Sauv Blanc day has come once again, giving us an opportunity to pay respect to that most important wine varietal. So why is the humble Sauvvy just so important? Well simply put Sauvignon Blanc is New Zealand’s most grown grape - by far, it makes up a whopping three quarters of our wine production and of that 86% goes overseas as the world is going nuts for NZSB.
We’re a small country, making only 1% of the world’s wine but a massive 17% of the world’s Sauvignon Blanc, putting that into numbers our valuable wine exports are worth about 1.5 Billion & Sauvignon makes up 1.1 billion of that so it’s fair to say without this humble grape, we wouldn’t have a wine industry
I know not everyone is a fan of the zesty, gooseberry, passionfruit grassy flavour that personifies a Marlborough Sauvignon but when you look at the numbers, at the very least you have to respect just now much it is revered around the world. Sauvignon Blanc has put New Zealand on the wine world map.
We’ve been growing Sauv commercially since 1979 and at the current time we grow 21.4 thousand hectares of it - 19 thousand of that in Marlborough alone, that figure has doubled in ten years to keep up with global demand as 5 million glass of NZ SB are quaffed globally every year
Know this, Marlborough Sauv is no one trick pony, lots & lots of innovation happening in order to produce wines with more complexity, aging ability and more. So if you swore off Sauv a few years ago, maybe now is a good time to give it another try.
My picks for International Sauvignon Blanc Day 2019 are:
If you want to go organic - and lots more people are try Loveblock or The Darling Wines
If you like the typically Marlborough style and you aren’t afraid to show it give Invivo, Hunters or Mud House a sip
For something a little more restrained & refined pick up Te Whare Ra or SOHO Caviar
For something with age or just a departure from the norm try Giesen The Fuder or Villa Maria Sur Lie