New Zealand wine

New Zealand wine is largely produced in ten major wine growing regions spanning latitudes 36 to 45 degrees and extending 1,000 miles or 1,600 km. They are, from north to south:

• Northland
• Auckland
• Waikato/Bay of Plenty
• Gisborne
• Hawke's Bay
• Wellington
• Nelson
• Marlborough
• Canterbury
• Central Otago

New Zealand is home to what many critics consider the world’s best Sauvignon Blanc. Historically, Sauvignon Blanc has made a rather bland wine. The most famous had been France’s Sancerre, but even much of that lacks personality and is frequently too acidic. It’s also the grape used to make Pouilly-Fume. Robert Mondavi tried unsuccessfully in the 1960s to change the wine’s style and name, calling it Fume Blanc.

However, in the 1980s, wineries in the Marlborough region began producing outstanding, some critics said unforgettable, Sauvignon Blanc. It appears that Marlborough is the best known location in the world to grow Sauvignon grapes.

Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc has been described as "alive with flavors of cut grass and fresh fruits." One critic described drinking Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc to "hearing Glenn Gould playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations." Another said that drinking your first New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc "is like having sex for the first time."

Cloudy Bay Vineyards has clearly set the world standard for Sauvignon Blanc and commands premium prices on the world market. Veuve Clicquot, the French Champagne producer, now owns the controlling interest in Cloudy Bay.

Sources

• New Zealand Wine
• Taber, George M. Judgment of Paris: California vs France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting that Revolutionized Wine. NY: Scribner, 2005.