Winemaker Notes
Our Sauvignon Blanc is grown in the pristine vineyards of Marlborough, surrounded by jagged mountain peaks, brilliant blue skies, and a maze of crystal clear inlets. With its bright, exuberant flavors and crisp acidity, every sip of Echo Bay Sauvignon Blanc is pure New Zealand.
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
Kiwi winemaker Nick Goldschmidt creates this charmer in a cool, maritime-influenced climate with a long growing season. We’ve tasted his Sauv Blancs now from around the world, and he’s proven he has a way with pulling out the most aromatic tropical notes. This wine opens with lime and white grapefruit aromas but leads to a palate where pineapple finds a home with sweet fig and a hint of grassiness. Sharp acidity has us reaching for more to pair with summer dishes.
Capable of a vast array of styles, Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, refreshing variety that equally reflects both terroir and varietal character. Though it can vary depending on where it is grown, a couple of commonalities always exist—namely, zesty acidity and intense aromatics. This variety is of French provenance. Somm Secret—Along with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. That green bell pepper aroma that all three varieties share is no coincidence—it comes from a high concentration of pyrazines (herbaceous aromatic compounds) inherent to each member of the family.
An icon and leading region of New Zealand's distinctive style of Sauvignon blanc, Marlborough has a unique terroir, making it ideal for high quality grape production (of many varieties). Despite some common generalizations, which could be fairly justified given that Marlborough is responsible for 90% of New Zealand's Sauvignon blanc production, the wines from this region are actually anything but homogenous. At the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, the vineyards of Marlborough benefit from well-draining, stony soils, a dry, sunny climate and wide temperature fluctuations between day and night, a phenomenon that supports a perfect balance between berry ripeness and acidity.
The region’s king variety, Sauvignon blanc, is beloved for its pungent, aromatic character with notes of exotic tropical fruit, freshly cut grass and green bell pepper along with a refreshing streak of stony minerality. These wines are made in a wide range of styles, and winemakers take advantage of various clones, vineyard sites, fermentation styles, lees-stirring and aging regimens to differentiate their bottlings, one from one another.
Also produced successfully here are fruit-forward Pinot noirs (especially where soils are clay-rich), elegant Riesling, Pinot gris and Gewürztraminer.