Wine of the week: Kiwi sauvignon blanc is back on track
This New Zealand sauvignon blanc is a serious, handsome, angular creation that harks back to the great wine of the Loire Valley.
I remember, to this day, the perfume and vivacity of 1987 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc like it was yesterday. I was working in my very first job in the wine trade and this was the most sought-after bottle in the world, at the time.
Founding winemaker Kevin Judd made 25 vintages of this pioneering wine, from its inaugural vintage in 1985. Today, he makes wine under his own brand, Greywacke, and it is interesting that, three decades on, this newly released vintage is about a pound cheaper, and an awful lot classier, than that life-changing flavour I tasted back in 1987.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Of course, Marlborough was made up of only a few strips of vines back in the late-1980s, and today it is a carpet of vines from one end to the other, but Kevin has always made keen, chiselled, linear wines with apple skin and cucumber freshness, and this is what I seek in my sauvignon blancs. He never dipped his toe into the floral, bath bomb and fruit-salad-scented wines so beloved of the high street, favouring instead serious, handsome, angular creations that hark back to the great wine of the Loire Valley.
This is, thankfully, where Marlborough is finally heading after years in the tropical-fruit wilderness. If you have been to New Zealand and come back to France, then it is time to have another peek at what is happening in Aotearoa. Kevin has never wavered and this pioneer and his fellow disciples are today steering New Zealand sauvignon blanc back on track.
2019 Greywacke, Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand – £22.99, or £19.99 on a mix six deal, majestic.co.uk; £17.99, laithwaites.co.uk; £18.99, or £14.99 each for six or more bottles, nzhouseofwine.co.uk; £19.99, reduced to £14.99, northandsouthwines.co.uk; £17.99, reduced to £15.75, nywines.co.uk
Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year (matthewjukes.com).
This article was originally published in MoneyWeek
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Women are getting their own baseball league again
In the Spotlight The league is on track to debut in 2026
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Giant TVs are becoming the next big retail commodity
Under the Radar Some manufacturers are introducing TVs over 8 feet long
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
When will mortgage rates finally start coming down?
The Explainer Much to potential homebuyers' chagrin, mortgage rates are still elevated
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
Mulled white wine: a 'quirky' Christmas hit?
The Week Recommends Retailers are hoping to tempt shoppers with a 'lighter' version of the classic festive tipple
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
The Count of Monte Cristo review: 'indecently spectacular' adaptation
The Week Recommends Dumas's classic 19th-century novel is once again given new life in this 'fast-moving' film
By The Week UK Published
-
Death of England: Closing Time review – 'bold, brash reflection on racism'
The Week Recommends The final part of this trilogy deftly explores rising political tensions across the country
By The Week UK Published
-
Sing Sing review: prison drama bursts with 'charm, energy and optimism'
The Week Recommends Colman Domingo plays a real-life prisoner in a performance likely to be an Oscars shoo-in
By The Week UK Published
-
Kaos review: comic retelling of Greek mythology starring Jeff Goldblum
The Week Recommends The new series captures audiences as it 'never takes itself too seriously'
By The Week UK Published
-
Blink Twice review: a 'stylish and savage' black comedy thriller
The Week Recommends Channing Tatum and Naomi Ackie stun in this film on the hedonistic rich directed by Zoë Kravitz
By The Week UK Published
-
Shifters review: 'beautiful' new romantic comedy offers 'bittersweet tenderness'
The Week Recommends The 'inventive, emotionally astute writing' leaves audiences gripped throughout
By The Week UK Published
-
The myth of 'healthy' moderate drinking
Under The Radar The shaky logic that a daily tipple can lengthen your life has been a 'propaganda coup for the alcohol industry'
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published