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What’snot well known is that the New Zealand wine industry is very young. Until the mid-1980s there was no Sauvignon Blanc grown at all, and the whole industry was about the same size as it is in England and Wales today, almost all based on the North Island.

The change in New Zealand’s fortunes happened when David Hohnen, who had already established one of Australia’s most celebrated wineries (Cape Mentelle in Margaret River), decided to plant Sauvignon Blanc in the as-yet-undeveloped region of Marlborough on the South Island in 1985. The winery he founded there transformed the whole New Zealand wine business and is hugely respected throughout the world. It is of course Cloudy Bay (now owned by LVMH).

Ideal Climate

Today New Zealand is the 16th largest producer of wine and the seventh largest exporter, with a business valued at US$1.3bn. Sauvignon Blanc now makes up 70 percent of all New Zealand wine production, the vast majority in Marlborough, where conditions are eminently suited to the variety.

Sauvignon Blanc buds late and ripens early, making it ideal for climates that are prone to spring frost and rain in early autumn. It also doesn’t respond well to excess rainfall in the growing season and