New Zealand Whites

We have thousands of wines. Although we carry many national brands, that is not our focus. The following are well made and generally more interesting wines that we are proud to recommend.

Mohua Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough-New Zealand, 2021 ($14.99) - One of our two best selling Kiwi Sauvignons. For a good reason!

Lobster Reef Sauvignon Blanc, 2022, Marlborough - New Zealand ($15.95) - This intensely aromatic wine is full of tropical Marlborough flavors. Beautifully balanced, refreshing, and generous on the palate, this Sauvignon Blanc was crafted to maximize the grapes' freshness and flavor. Lobster Reef got its name from the brightly colored Rock Lobsters that have made the Marlborough coastline their home longer than anyone in the area can remember. Lobster Reef was started by the Brown family – the people behind Cape Campbell Wines. The family began planting vines in Marlborough in 1980, selling grapes to other wineries. They began making their own wines in 1992.

Mt. Beautiful Sauvignon Blanc, North Canterbury - New Zealand, 2022 ($18.79) - One of our two best-selling Kiwi Sauvignons. This has been our favorite New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc for 10 years, but the 2021 vintage was a complete wipeout; frost destroyed their entire crop! To stretch the supply of the 2020, the winery raised the price to tamp down demand, withdrew it from several new markets, and restricted sales. We bought as much as they would sell us and hoped to get through. Magically, we were down to just 6 bottles of the 2020 when the 2022 became available! Best of all, they dropped the price! Not all the way back, but still…. The new vintage is delicious: clean, fresh, and flowery. The overwhelming grapefruit/gooseberry in wines like the ridiculously popular Kim Crawford is well controlled here. A small portion was fermented and aged in barrels. The wine shows some melon and fig with hints of wet stone and lime zest for complexity.

Rapture Springs Sauvignon Blanc Reserve, Marlborough-New Zealand, 2022 ($19.99) – New Zealand has become practically synonymous with Sauvignon Blanc. Mass-produced commercial brands (Oyster Bay, Matua, Kim Crawford.) are very competent and enormously successful but monotonously similar. A few dollars more gets you a big step up in quality with more refinement and a better balance of fruit and acidity. We now add this beauty to our Mt. Beautiful and Tokoeka Estate offerings. Rapture Springs is a winery owned by two Kiwi families, the Neylons and the Tiffins, who first bought prime vineyard land in 1985. This reserve bottling comes from their best vineyards in the Dillons Point and Wairau subregions. Wine Spectator: 93 “This luscious version offers ripe peach, ruby grapefruit, and passion fruit flavors that are mouthwatering, with details of sea salt, dried herbs, and fresh ginger. Gains momentum and intensity on the long, expressive finish, where lemon verbena and green tea linger.”

Amisfield Sauvignon Blanc Central Otago-New Zealand 2022 ($21.49) - The vast majority of New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs come from Marlborough, on the northwestern part of the South Island. Uniquely, this one comes from Central Otago on the southern part of the island. Wine Spectator: 92 “Effusive & intense with candied ginger, dried pineapple, and fresh apricot on a juicy, fleshy frame. Gains momentum on the finish, where details of oolong tea and lime zest linger.”

Tokoeka Estate Reserve Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough-New Zealand, 2021 ($21.99) - This high-quality Sauvignon Blanc, is much more interesting, better balanced, more refined, and less aggressive than the everyday stuff. Reminiscent of what Cloudy Bay used to taste like before it was acquired by Champagne house Veuve Clicquot in 2003 and is now a brand of LVMH. There’s more passion fruit than gooseberry here, and its fruit and acidity really harmonize. If you want a really good example of the everyday stuff, we have Tokoeka’s regular Sauvignon Blanc ($12.99), a standout in this price range. Tokoeka is Maori for brown kiwi. The reserve bottling comes from the best rows of vines, which are on lower fertility, stony, sandy loam overlying deep layers of free-draining shingle. Most Marlborough Sauvignon Blancs are more herbaceous in style, coming from vigorous vines that are planted in more fertile and water-retentive soil.