Wander into your local bottle-o and you’ll find the choice of a Sav Blanc is made easy simply when you glance at where it’s from. There’s so much great Aussie wine, sure, but when it comes to Sauvignon Blanc, it’s hard to beat what comes out of New Zealand’s Marlborough region.
It seems like every drop you taste is a winner. A wine trip to that part of New Zealand must be like knowing full well every day is going to be incredible, with every sip a genuine star.
From the cheap bottles to the expensive varieties, NZ sav blanc is just an absolute winner. Young or old, cheap or expensive, it all seems to be good. The most recent drop we had from Toi Toi was an example of that.
It seems too good to be true, but it’s not. Kiwi sav blanc is amazing.
Because of this, we’ve been trying more and more drops lately, expanding what we know to find more bottles we can throw in our wine rack, to spy them on the store shelves and know that yes, that one is worth drinking and sharing with friends.
The latest we’re checking out is from Marlborough Sounds, another Kiwi bottle that interestingly isn’t produced for a New Zealand winery it seems, but instead an Aussie one. Its bottle notes the Marlborough Sounds Sauvignon Blanc we’re drinking is bottled for Pinnacle Drinks, and the website says much the same with its contact details.
In that way, this drop feels less like an authentic Kiwi sav blanc you could pick up while touring the region, and more something of an import made specifically for Aussie store shelves, kind of like a restaurant on Uber Eats made specifically for Uber Eats.
Its nose is everything we’ve come to expect from a New Zealand sauvignon blanc: hints of tropical fruit with stone fruit, much of which you can taste with each sip. Notes of pineapple and passionfruit are there, with a hint of peach, as well, though none of the attack you might long for at times.
Sip after sip from the Marlborough Sounds Sauvignon Blanc is charming enough and an easy drink, but lacks personality. Charming enough, sure, and very clean, but lacking in bite.
Ultimately, it’s slightly more adult take on fruit flavours that’s easy to drink, but you could do better, we think, especially at $12 bottle.
