The Ned Sauvignon Blanc

I am new to the joys of sauv.blanc, i have always enjoyed big buttery, toasty chardonnay. My first impressions of sauv.blanc was very grassy, gooseberry with a bouquet of cat pee. But I have matured in my outlook and tried different whites from various countries. This Ned sauv. is gorgeous,it is fruity, round, subtle but very relaxed - ohh yes, I am drinking it as I write - for me it is not crisp,dry and elegant, it is certainly a classy wine - but it could be chilean, it is bursting with ripe tropical fruits - ohh yes i am smelling it now, yes, there is gooseberry and nettles for you traditional sauvs.but this wine is more complex and reaches the parts other sauvs cant! ( just like Harp ) This wine is capable of touching everybody - the big fruit chardonnay boys, trad.sauvs, new age sauvs like me, the sancerre clan, the chenin blanc idots, if you chill it so much you cant taste anything- then even the pinot grigio girls. For the money this is a great wine.

Ohhhhhhhh yes. This is something quite special, quite special indeed. There are plenty of good, fresh, big fat Kiwi Sauvignons out there. If you can afford it, Cloudy Bay is the daddy (or so they say). But there are plenty of vineyards that will charge less than half the price of a 20 quid Cloudy Bay and deliver a comparable level of flinty, fruity and memorable Sauvignons.

One of my personal favourites, The Ned (the name of the local mountain) nails all of this, with some cut grass and lime fruit taste, a limestone flora nose, but all well balanced, nice and fresh, with a very clean finish.

Relatively difficult to get hold of until recently, you can pick this up from suppliers and retailers alike nowadays. It sits justifiably alongside the better Kiwi offerings, because that's exactly what it is.