'I want a little sugar in my bowl/I want a little sweetness down in my soul' crooned the late high priestess of soul, Nina Simone. But if show judges have anything to do with it, she’ll be lucky to get it from SA Chenin. At the start of judging of the annual Spar Chenin Blanc Challenge earlier this year, the chairman of judges instructed tasters to 'be on [our] guard against being seduced by sugar.' So it came as no surprise when an 'elegant and understated' Spier Private Collection 2004 with 3.4 g/l residual sugar took home the trophy.

One of the judges, an MW no less, commented 'I was looking for something with a little more restraint, less oak and noticeable residual sugar.' Leaving aside the merits of an upfront fatwa against sugar in a competition open to all styles of Chenin - and one in which Teddy Hall has been top performing winemaker (last year he won for the fourth time with one containing a whacking 16g/l RS) - this preference for drier styles flies in the face of current tastes. With the aim of the competition to stimulate Chenin sales, surely a popular style should override aesthetic prejudices of the minority? Especially in a competition sponsored by a national supermarket chain.

Chenin king Teddy Hall is not afraid of RS. He comments 'Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay can taste cheap and nasty with some RS, but Chenin blanc and (Rhine) Riesling sometimes need some residual sugar for balance.' Although he’s not too worried about the instruction to Spar judges as while it may penalize his Robusto (running to anything between 10 and 20 g/l RS) it should aid his Rudera (between 3.5 and 5.5 g/l). 'Winning is a lottery anyway' he continues 'and I don’t make wines for competitions, although it’s always nice to win them. By the way it is interesting to note that Chenin Blanc and (Rhine) Riesling are the longest living white wines in the world, with and without high RS.'

This aversion to sweetness by show judges is nothing new. Judging the inaugural Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year Award with a catch-all category of white wine, there was much consternation when a noble late harvest topped the poll and an attempt to replace the winner was only headed off by two judges digging in their heals. 

Which confirms a problem with blind tasting panels highlighted in a letter to the editor of WINE magazine in June. In discussions after individual blind assessments 'a dominant personality or more experience adjudicator could sway the majority of the forum into a collective score that may not be accurate.'

Of course this problem does not arise in sighted tastings, as the prejudices of individual tasters are fully reflected in their assessments to start with. Which all rather marginalizes competitions and wine guides when the public has different criteria and preferences to judges.  

Some commentators call high RS the single factor that makes Australian Yellow Tail the most successful wine in the world. In the all-important (for SA exporters) UK market, Rosé wines are on a roll with market share up from 2.7% in 2000 to 7% last year. This Rosé renaissance is largely a US-driven initiative with 6 million cases being sold under the Blossom Hill and Gallo brands. Most of the time, RS exceeds 15 g/l with total acidity also proportionately higher in these wines. The sales of Californian blush wines are up 40% year on year according to the Nielsen UK numbers, and guess what, they show RS levels of up to 35 g/l and more. White Zinfandel is the biggest-selling cultivar for Blossom Hill - the UK's number one wine brand - growing at 28% and sporting 32 g/l RS. Since 1992 Black Tower's sales have been surging, with the flagship a musky Rivaner with a RS of 28 g/l.  Now it is the Black Tower Rosé that is rocketing upwards at 32 g/l RS. 

Which is all food for thought for SA winemakers who make the stuff to sell it rather than win competitions, and confirms that Wosa are on the right track with their new initiative to highlight SA sweet wine abroad (see WOSA to highlight SA's sweet wines abroad). At the end of the day, the consumer's palate is king. As Ms. Simone concluded: 'maybe I can fix things up so they’ll go/whatsa matter daddy/come on save my soul/drop a little sugar in my bowl.'