New Zealand's sauvignon blanc is so very nice

I do my best to suppress the wine writer's natural impulse to delve into wine minutiae — the technical details of vat and vineyard, bud and barrel — but once in a while I must unloose the inner wine geek.

In this instance, the opportunity to quickly summarize an emerging wine region and its most important wines is too good to pass up.

Earlier this month, Seattle was the first stop on an eight-city showcase organized by New Zealand Winegrowers, and the event should serve as a template to any organization hoping to promote its region's wines. In particular, the amount of useful information that was assembled for this tour made it a brilliant and pleasurable learning experience.

Although these are trade events, consumers who want to dig into the nuts and bolts of New Zealand wines should visit New Zealand Wines online, www.nzwine.com, where much of this same background material is available.

I have spoken with many American winemakers who have visited and/or worked in New Zealand, and the reports are always the same: spectacular scenery, unspoiled and unique, and winemakers with a fervent desire to make their wines in a style that sets them apart from the rest of the world.

New Zealand is described in the winegrowers' group's literature as a "nation of islands (that) benefits from the temperature modulating effect of the sea." It is a country where dense, native forests and snow-capped mountains tumble down into rugged, spectacular coastline. Its wine-growing regions span a length of 1,000 miles (north to south). Its vineyards are set in a range of climates and soils that are the rough equal of Northern California on up to the Willamette Valley.

New Zealand's winemaking history is quite recent. The first experimental sauvignon blanc was planted in the early 1970s. Commercial harvests began in 1980. The Marlborough region, on the northeastern edge of the southern island, quickly established itself as the best place for sauvignon blanc. Much credit goes to the Cloudy Bay winery, founded in 1985 by David Hohnen of Cape Mentelle (they will be profiled in a column on Western Australia soon). Both wineries are now owned by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, and Cloudy Bay sauvignon blanc is still the premiere brand in the country.

But it is really just the tip of the quality iceberg.

The growth of the New Zealand wine industry throughout the past two decades has been propelled by its overall success with sauvignon blanc, which now represents 72 percent of the country's wine exports. A quarter of these exports come into the U.S., and I was amazed at the variety and overall quality of the more than 30 sauvignon blancs being poured.

The Marlborough style, which is undeniably the varietal benchmark, is described as "pungently aromatic and explosively flavored, its zesty character redolent of green bell pepper and gooseberry with tropical fruit overtones."

Some of those descriptors may not immediately ring your bell, but they are reasonably accurate when describing the full range of these wines. They come from soils old and young, from riverbed rock to old glacial moraine, loess and clay. With rare (and not necessarily admirable) exceptions, they are cold fermented in stainless steel, to optimize freshness and fruit flavor. This enhances the crisp, sometimes razor-sharp minerality of the wines.

Marlborough's subregions (Rapaura district and Awatere Valley) have their own fine-tuned nuances, and sauvignon blancs from other parts of the country can also be quite good. But as I wound my way through the tasting, it was the Marlborough wines, time and again, that scored the highest.

Prices range from around $10 to the mid-$20s, and quality generally follows the curve. The cheaper wines are most likely to bring up capsicum (bell pepper or green bean) flavors, while the most expensive have more richly varied aromas and layering of fruits, from green berry to citrus (lime and grapefruit) to light tropical, often underscored with that marvelous, bracing minerality. In the $16-$19 range you will find some of the overall best values.

These are seafood wines but also well-suited to poultry or veal, lighter pastas (capellini with halibut cheeks, shiitake mushrooms and leeks was my own successful experiment) and pan-Pacific cuisines. About 90 percent are sealed with a screwcap, and though controversy continues to surround the cork vs. screwcap debate, it does make them virtually taint-proof.

I would certainly encourage you to explore New Zealand's other aromatic white wines — riesling, gewürztraminer and pinot gris; its seductive pinot noirs, every bit the equal of California and Oregon's best; and the increasingly impressive merlot, cabernet and syrah blends. But your initial foray into the pleasures of New Zealand wines absolutely must begin with sauvignon blanc, especially at this time of the year.

Listed (in ascending order by price) is a case of my top-scoring New Zealand sauvignon blancs, all from the most recent vintage. Distributors have been indicated where known.

Nobilo 2006 'Regional Collection' Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough); $12. Citrus, green apple and tart melon.

Matua Valley 2006 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough); $13. Tart, racy, bright, high acid, lively wine. (Young's-Columbia)

Babich 2006 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough); $14. Creamy, leesy and spicy. (Young's-Columbia)

Saint Clair 'Vicar's Choice' 2006 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough); $15. Grapefruit and lime, with texture and length. (A&B Imports)

Whitehaven 2006 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough); $17. Layered, snappy, with modest hints of green pea and herb. (Odom)

Wairau River 2006 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough); $19. Intense, sharp, edgy, layered with mixed fruits and herbs. (Odom)

G oldwater 2006 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough); $19. Spicy, elegant style with grapefruity citrus.

Brancott Reserve 2006 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough); $19. Very fresh, strongly mineral. (Young's-Columbia)

Te Kairanga 2006 Sauvignon Blanc (Martinborough); $19. Grassy, herbal, textural. (A&B Imports)

Vavasour 2006 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough); $19. Creamy, light, well-balanced.

Nobilo 2006 'Icon' Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough); $22 . Notes of quinine, grapefruit and citrus rind; exceptional length.

Saint Clair 'Pioneer Block 7' 2006 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough); $27. Best of show. Lime, rock, tropical fruits, plenty of depth and detail. (A&B Imports)

Finding the wine

Unless noted, all Wine Adviser recommendations are currently available, though vintages may sometimes differ. All wine shops and most groceries have a wine specialist on staff. Show them this column, and if they do not have the wine in stock, they can order it for you from the local distributor.

Paul Gregutt is the author of "Northwest Wines." His column appears weekly in the Wine section. He can be reached by e-mail at wine@seattletimes.com.