Sauvignon Blanc has been a flagship wine for Hunter’s since the winery’s very beginning in 1979. This is the varietal that introduced Hunter’s (and New Zealand wine in general) to the world back in 1986 at London’s Sunday Times Wine Festival. Classically Marlborough, the 2018 Sauvignon Blanc shows a nose of passionfruit and touch of herbaceous capsicum. It has a refreshing multi-layered palate of citrus and tropical fruit. This is a delicious, satisfying wine with beautifully balanced acidity.
Winemaking practices at Hunter’s lead to a common goal: expressing and capturing the lush fruit aromatics and flavours that the best New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is known for. Fruit is harvested in the early morning, when the grapes are still cool, then immediately destemmed, gently crushed, and pressed to stainless steel tanks. Fermented at low temperatures that let the vibrant flavours of the wine shine, the wine spends roughly five months on fine lees prior to bottling.
“At £16.99 this isn’t the cheapest Marlborough Sauvignon you’ll come across, but it’s proof that you get what you pay for. The nose has some mulchy leaf and herb scents, with some tasty nutty reduction. The palate is quite intense, displaying some rich licks of stone fruit alongside gooseberry, herb and citrus. The acidity is there but isn’t overpowering, providing balance to the wine and helping to make it delicious on its own or with goats cheese on crusty bread. Drinking Window 2020 – 2022”
90 points, Decanter, July 2020
