Astrolabe Durvillea Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough NZ 2009

Price: £10.99

Fresh acidity with classic gooseberry & blackcurrant flavours.

Producer: Simon Waghorn, part owner and chief wine maker at Whitehaven, created the wine Astrolabe. He wanted to make a style of wines in a classic Marlborough vein, emphasizing the varietal intensity created by leafy vineyards, ripe fruit and cool climate grape growing.

Grape: Grassy and herbaceous, with the characteristics of gooseberries, nettles and cat’s pee – this can only be referring to one grape variety: Sauvignon Blanc. The grape has its origins in Bordeaux but is now widely cultivated over France and around much of the world. Think of Pouilly-Fume and Sancerre from the Loire – both these wines are made from Sauvignon Blanc and are, probably, the grape in its purest form: crisp, dry, aromatic and unoaked. In Bordeaux, it’s blended, particularly with Semillon, for the dry whites there, but it’s also an ingredient for the region’s luscious dessert wines, such as those of Sauternes and Barsac.
On the other side of the world, however, New Zealand has also virtually made this white variety its own, giving the wine a screwcap along the way.

Yet this fashionable grape does have its faults. For one, unblended, it doesn’t age. Wines made from Sauvignon Blanc are generally meant to be drunk young, but then that can also be a bonus – as soon as you’ve bought a bottle, you can just chill this zesty little number and enjoy it! On the growing front, it’s susceptible to botrytis, oidium and black rot and will also rot if grown on fertile soils, preferring gravelly or sandy loams, or chalk in parts of the Loire. It also tends to be very vigorous and if it’s allowed to become over-productive on heavy soils, then the characteristics of the wines will be much diluted.

Sauvignon Blanc goes by a few other names, the most common probably being Fume Blanc, as it’s known in California.

Region: Marlborough is located on the northeastern edge of the top of New Zealand’s South Island. Marlbourgh started making wine in 1875, however, the modern story really starts in 1973 when Montana planted Sauvignon Blanc and took the wine by storm. In addition to its variety defining Sauvignon Blanc it producers excellent Rieslings and Pinot Noirs.

Style: Zingy, fresh, fruity Sauvignon Blanc style wines. High on acidity, big on flavour.
Can be either full of gooseberries, green apples, grassy aromas or more subtle, tropical passion fruit flavours.
The New Zealand style tends to be more intense than the mineral, stony style you’ll find in Sancerre & Pouilly Fume – the home of the Sauvignon Blanc grape in Loire, France. Look out for Chilean Sav Blancs for good value for money.

Ratings for older vintages

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