Is a remote island nation in the Pacific Ocean, a thousand miles or so south-east of Australia. It lies between latitudes 36°S and 45°S, making it the world\’s southernmost wine-producing nation.
Is New Zealand\’s most important wine region by far. Situated at the northeastern tip of the South Island, this dry, sunny region produces around three-quarters of all New Zealand wine.
It is particularly famous for its pungent, zesty white wines made from the Sauvignon Blanc grape variety which dominates the Marlborough vineyards. In 2017 the variety accounted for 79 percent of vineyard surface area and 87 percent of regional production. Sauvignon Blanc took off in a big way in the 1980s and 1990s, producing a style of wine that was praised for its forwardness and its herbaceous, sweaty character.
Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc remains the bread and butter performer for the industry.
THE GRAPES
SAUVIGNON BLANC
SAUVIGNON BLANC
Is a white-wine grape from western France, now successfully grown in emerging and established wine regions all over the world.
In the late 20th Century, a new region began to gain a reputation as one of the great Sauvignon Blanc regions of the world: Marlborough, at the northern tip of New Zealand\’s South Island. The rapid development of the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is one of the most dramatic events in the world of wine. The intense and readily accessible flavor of a classic Marlborough \”Savvy\” (as it is colloquially known in that part of the world) has captured a vast market around the globe.
Classic Sauvignon Blanc aromas range from grass, nettles, blackcurrant leaf and asparagus to green apples and gooseberries, and to more esoteric notes such as cats\’ pee and gunflint.
