Best Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand | 2023

Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand’s signature variety, is often a highly crisp, fragrant wine with flavors of citrus, tropical fruit, and cut grass.

Famous Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand

This list includes several Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. All of them are known for their outstanding properties and therefore gaining fame. The main features shared by these wines are the flavor and scent of citrus, minerals, nuts, and tropical fruits. Combined with a soft structure and long finish, these wines stand out for their exceptional taste. This list is made up of five different wines, each with its unique characteristics and charm.

1. 2020 Whitehaven Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc

(4.2 / 5) 

• Price: $16.99
• Region: Marlborough, New Zealand
• ABV: 13%
• Allergens: Contains Sulphites
• Appearance: Light lemon with a green undertone.
• Aroma: An appealing blend of tropical fruits, blackcurrant, nectarine, lime, and grapefruit, complemented with complex notes of jalapeño and gooseberry.
• Tasting Notes: A full-flavored, finely constructed wine with blackcurrant, boxwood, lemon, and stonefruit flavors. The lingering, velvety finish is enhanced by attractive crushed leaf and mouthwatering wet river stone aromas.
• Cellaring: We recommend enjoying our 2020 Sauvignon Blanc when it is young and fresh, but the wine can mature wonderfully over the next three to five years if cellared responsibly.
• Food Pairing: This wine pairs well with fresh shellfish, particularly Marlborough’s famed green-shell mussels. The wine goes well with summer salads, fowl, and goat’s cheese.

2. Seifried Estate Old Coach Road Sauvignon Blanc 2020

(4.1 / 5) 

• Price: $19.99
• Region: Nelson, South Island, New Zealand
• ABV: 13%
• Suitable for Vegetarians and Vegans
• Aroma: The nose is expressive and lively, with notes of melon, lime, and basil leaf.
• Appearance: The color of the 2020 Old Coach Road Nelson Sauvignon Blanc is light straw.
• Tasting Notes: The tongue is rich and flavorful, with passionfruit, sugar snap peas, and lingering mineral acidity. Fruit parcels were chosen when the flavors, sugars, and grape acids were in perfect proportion, yielding fruit with rich varietal flavors and fresh, long-lasting acidity.
• Food Pairing: Goes well with feta cheese, goat’s cheese, shellfish.

3. Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2020

(4.2 / 5) 

• Price: $34.99
• ABV: 13-13.5%
• Cellaring Potential: 10 years (min)
• Allergens: Contains sulfites
• Best Serve At: 8-10 C
• Aromas of strong, juicy, and fruity (as expected), with gooseberry leading the way ahead of lime and fresh herbs.
• Tasting notes: The initial attack is fresh, fruity, with focused acidity and a lot of weight and texture in the mouth; the flavors are less tutti-frutti with a savory green pepper note and that smash of concentrated limey-green apple acidity that holds it all together and makes you salivate – for another sip.
• The wine has a nice long finish with a salty touch that emphasizes the freshness. The quality is excellent, and there is a nice degree of elegance as well as that peculiar Cloudy Bay blend of all those aspects.

4. Craggy Range Sauvignon Blanc Te Muna Road Vineyard 2020

(4.3 / 5) 

• Price: $19.99
• Region: Martinborough, New Zealand
• ABV: 13.3%
• Allergens: Contains Sulfites
• Appearance: Lemon straw color. Aromatics of ripe Sauvignon Blanc with white stone fruit, passionfruit pulp, and kaffir lime.
• Tasting Notes: The taste is alive with flavor, deep in concentration yet with distinct saline acidity, resulting in a wine with presence as well as drinkability.
• Food Pairings: This wine goes nicely with bluff oysters, ceviche kingfish, and Thai street cuisine.

5. Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2020

(4.1 / 5) 

• Price: $18.99
• Region: Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand
• ABV: 13.5%
• Tasting Notes: The palate is large and textured, with excellent concentration and a sharp, succulent finish.
• A summer fruit salad – ripe golden peaches, honeydew melon, nectarines, and passionfruit, with a generous dash of cassis and a dusting of lime zest – and you’ll have a subtle, delicately scented, ripe rendition of Marlborough sauvignon blanc.

Our Pick of the best Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand

We love the Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc. It is a great wine and every wine lover must try this wine.

David Hohnen had his first taste of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc in 1983. Only shortly afterward, in 1985, he launched Cloudy Bay and introduced New Zealand’s Sauvignon to the rest of the globe.

The Cloudy Bay tradition began with Sauvignon Blanc, a New Zealand wine that has been legendary since its debut vintage. It cemented New Zealand’s place on the global wine map, permanently altering perceptions of ‘new world’ wines and Sauvignon Blanc as a varietal.

• This Sauvignon Blanc is sourced from three Wairau Valley sub-regions: Rapaura, Renwick, and Brancott Valley.
• The valley’s climate and the coarse, free-draining gravelly soils work together to offer ideal conditions for Sauvignon Blanc grapes. The wines that result are clean, bright, and full of intense stone fruit, lemon, and delicate tropical notes.

Cloudy Bay is always looking for new adventures. Pelorus méthode traditionally contributed to New Zealand’s reputation for high-quality sparkling wine. Te Koko, a barrel-fermented Sauvignon Blanc, debuted in 2000 and forever altered the perception of the region’s trademark grape type.

Origin & History of Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand

In 1975, a brave winemaker named Frank Yukich planted the first Sauvignon Blanc grapes in Marlborough, and plantings have progressively risen over the subsequent four decades. As a result, New Zealand is now regarded as a true pioneer in the production of Sauvignon Blanc.

The much-lauded white wines of New Zealand are slightly sweeter than those of Bordeaux and the Loire Valley and are heavily affected by the country’s growing circumstances. The grape is native to Bordeaux, where it is recognized as Pouilly-Fumé, Sancerre, and Graves, and is among the most extensively grown grapes in the world.

Wines from Marlborough have remarkable fruit vibrancy and razor-sharp acidity. Because the acidity is so high, observing a gram or two of leftovers sugar is usual. Marlborough is New Zealand’s most revered wine-producing area, accounting for 62 percent of all wine produced in the country.

Expect to smell bell pepper, gooseberry, and passionfruit, as well as more vegetal notes like tomato stems, juicy lemon, and freshly cut grass. Marlborough’s soils are generally deep-draining sandy clay loam over gravel, and it has a Marine climate, which contrasts the hot days with refreshing seaside breezes.

Furthermore, New Zealand receives about twice as much Ultraviolet radiation as the other wine-growing locations along the same latitude due to a shallow ozone barrier, resulting in extraordinarily high sun exposure.

Whenever it comes to matching, consider white meat, seafood, and herbs like cilantro and parsley to bring out the herbaceous aspects of the wine.

Conclusion

So to sum up, the composition of these Sauvignon Blanc is fantastic. And the prices are quite affordable. In this article, we had a brief discussion of 5 best Sauvignon Blanc Wines from New Zealand that you ought to try.