All current releases, these wines span three vintages with some typically punchy and zesty young wines interspersed with others aiming for a food-friendlier style - it’s not about reinventing the wheel, but allowing diversity of expression, tailored to differing audiences and occasions.
The sub $20 versions are likely to be even more sharply priced on promo.
2019 Hunters
Home Block
Marlborough
sauvignon blanc
Price: $29.99
Rating: Very good
A wisp of smoke and struck
match lead into a combo of
gooseberry and passionfruit.
Leads with a sweet fruit jube
before typical grassy,
gooseberry notes flood in:
some power here. A razor’s
edge of acidity adds lemony
citrus before the wine runs to a
fruit sherbetty zing on the
close. Crisp and zesty.
2020 Otuwhero Estate
Marlborough
sauvignon blanc
Price: $19.95
Rating: Very good to excellent
Ripe fruited and sweetly fragrant
nose, passionfruit & feijoa mixing
with cut grass, capsicum and
honeysuckle, sweat later. The
palate highlights red capsicum,
cut grass and pear, a whisper of
underlying sweetness before the
racy acidity kicks into play,
gooseberry lingering on the
finish. Zesty, fresh, lots of appeal
and drinkability.
2018 Domain Road
Central Otago
sauvignon blanc
Price: $23
Rating: Excellent
Fascinating nose of sweat,
gooseberry, passionfruit and
preserved lemon. Nicely creamy
texture to this, showing excellent
flavour weight and depth,
highlighting the passionfruit and
citrus elements. This neatly
balances the fresh, zesty
elements, a supple, creamy and
complex palate, with a dry yet
juicy finish with a super-long
carry. Nicely done.
2019 The Paper
Nautilus
Marlborough
sauvignon blanc
Price: $35
Rating: Very good to excellent
Sweetly perfumed, fruit jube, lime
cordial and hints of herb. Leads
with sweet, red apple and
nectarine, taking this down a
less trodden path, before the
underlying grassy & gooseberry
notes build. There’s a fruit pith-
like chewiness to the texture,
before some citrusy notes
appear on the playfully tangy
close.
2020 Hunters
Marlborough
sauvignon blanc
Price: $19.90
Rating: Excellent
Classic gooseberry and cut grass,
backed by wisps of passionfruit
and some sweet florality with
aeration. Drier palate than the
nose might suggest, gooseberry
and green capsicum flooding the
palate with undercurrents of
lemon and wine gums. Fresh,
vibrant, mouth-watering tartness
with sherbetty fruit sweetness on
the close. Playful.
2019 Durvillea
Marlborough
sauvignon blanc
Price: $17
Rating: Very good
A subtly expressed nose of fruit
pastille, white flowers, florality,
herbaceous hints wafting up,
sweat and bramble too.
Greengage plum and brambly
herbs lead, building in
crunchiness and raciness as
gooseberry and cut grass notes
make their presence felt, with an
attractively crisp finish. A slow
starter that grows nicely with
aeration.
2018 Church Road
McDonald Series
Barrique Ferment
Hawke’s Bay
sauvignon blanc
Price: $26.59
Rating: Excellent
Immediately different expression
that doffs its hat to Sancerre.
Matchstick, a little funk, cedar,
dry honey, brambles, green bean.
The palate kicks on with green
apple, gooseberry, capsicum and
oak seasoning supported by a
delightfully creamy and textural
palate. A charming
accompaniment to food.
2020 Jules Taylor
Marlborough
sauvignon blanc
Price: $24.99
Rating: Excellent
Initially playing in the tropical,
passionfruit/feijoa spectrum
rather than overtly herbaceous
with green herbs and cut grass
slowly more evident. Crisp and
zesty palate shifting between
gooseberry, grass, green apple,
fruit jube and a little citrus,
flowing to a racy, fresh close.
Good flavour intensity, excellent
length and great appeal. Ticks
all the right boxes.
