Wine: New Zealand’s go-to
Sauvignon blanc celebrates its 40th year in New Zealand.
“Sauvignon blanc is the grape that put New Zealand on the wine map,” said Pamela Busch in SFExaminer.com. As it celebrates its 40th year there, the grape now accounts for better than half of all of the nation’s vineyard space. The best bottlings have much going for them beyond the wine’s notorious “herbaceousness.” Some fine choices can still be found even in the $15 range.
2012 Yealands ($15). You’ll note “loads of gooseberry” in this single-vineyard bottling, but grapefruit, too, and “an underlying minerality.”
2011 Man O’ War ($16). Sauvignon blanc blends with 15 percent sémillon to produce “a deliciously complete wine with pleasant coffee bean and grapefruit aromas.”
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.
2011 Mount Beautiful ($16). “Fragrant with guava, passion fruit, and grapefruit,” this luscious North Canterbury wine also has a “bright, lively acidity.”
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
-
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation: the group behind Gaza's controversial new aid programme
The Explainer Deadly shootings and chaotic scenes have been reported at aid sites after US group replaced UN humanitarian organisations
-
Is UK's new defence plan transformational or too little, too late?
Today's Big Question Labour's 10-year strategy 'an exercise in tightly bounded ambition' already 'overshadowed by a row over money'
-
How much should doctors trust parental intuition?
In The Spotlight Study finds parents' concern can be better at spotting critical illness than vital signs