All wines available to buy online at heraldwine.co.nz for a limited time.
Celia Hay helps you know your sauvignon blanc.
Sauvignon blanc has become synonymous with New Zealand and the vibrant, herbaceous Marlborough style leads and dominates the New Zealand wine industry. Though sauvignon blanc comes from France, it is now widely grown around the world — in Australia, Italy, North and South America and also in South Africa, which is gaining respect as a high-quality producer of the variety.
New Zealand sauvignon blanc is best known for its crisp acidity, intense grassy, herbaceous nose and fruit-driven character. The grape is early to mid-ripening with vigorous growth, requiring canopy management. It is best not planted in fertile soils. Its small bunches of berries make it prone to botrytis.
Aromas
The primary fruit aromas of sauvignon blanc make it one of the world’s most instantly recognisable wines. Sauvignon blanc is associated with pronounced fruit flavours of green apple, passionfruit and pineapple. It can show a herbaceous character of green capsicum and freshly cut grass. These aromas are often associated with sauvignon blanc from Marlborough, Chile and South Africa.
The French style of sauvignon blanc tends to be less pronounced, with more savoury aromas of green herbs and straw. When it ages, sauvignon blanc can develop aromas of canned asparagus and canned peas.
Wine style
In general, the style is unoaked and fruit-driven, although more barrel-fermented and barrel-aged sauvignon blancs are becoming available. Sauvignon blanc is considered a dry white wine with medium to high acidity. Many consider it is developed when bottled and is not enhanced by extended bottle ageing.
Marlborough
Marlborough remains New Zealand’s largest sauvignon blanc producer, with 90 per cent of all plantings, and the wine is the flagship of the New Zealand wine industry and our most important export. The ‘Marlborough style is crisp, fresh, aromatic, tangy and incisively flavoured.
There are three main sub-regions in Marlborough: The Wairau Valley is dominated by the Wairau River that flows from mountains, near the Nelson lakes, and pushes north-east through the flat plains towards the coast at Cloudy Bay. The Wairau’s alluvial flood plain has many types of soils from light silt and sand to the greywacke river stones of Rapaura.
The Southern Valleys consist of a series of valleys, south of Highway 63 and rising up towards the Black Birch range and Wither Hills towards the coast. The Fairhall and Brancott valleys are where Montana first planted grapes in 1973.
The Awatere Valley is further south and like the Wairau is dominated by its river, which runs from the mountains down to the coast at Clifford Bay. This narrow river valley is flanked by the Black Birch range of mountains to the north and the Inland Kaikoura ranges to the south. In less than 10 years, the Awatere has grown from a few experimental vineyards to having more area under vine than Hawkes Bay. Awatere Valley is considered cooler, drier and windier than the other sub-regions with often a 10-degree drop in temperature overnight, extending the growing season. It can also be very windy.
The Awatere is considered to be geologically older than the Wairau and the dramatic river terraces of stony gravels and sandstone that have been carved out by the river offer unique individual vineyard sites. The risk of frost in spring and autumn, and drought, add to the challenges of growing grapes in this region.
Try these wines
Loveblock Sauvignon Blanc is organically produced in the Awatere Valley RRP$20
Saint Clair Sauvignon Blanc is from the Wairau Valley RRP$19
Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc is from the Southern Valleys RRP$25 and Dog Point Section 94 Sauvignon Blanc RRP$35 is barrel-fermented and aged for 18 months in oak which makes it a completely different style from these other wines.
Buy these wines
All wines available to buy online at heraldwine.co.nz for a limited time.
In her latest book New Zealand Wine Guide: An Introduction to the Wine Styles and Regions of New Zealand, Celia Hay, Director of the New Zealand School of Food and Wine and well-respected wine educator, explains in detail about new Zealand's wine regions, significant grape varieties and wines produced.
RRP $49 from nzwinebook.com and selected retailers.