The Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is one of the success stories of a grape variety planted outside of its native country. The Sauvignon grape comes from the Loire Valley of France, where its best expressions are produced around the iconic villages of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé. The first plantings of the varietal in New Zealand are dating back to the 1970s when a couple of New Zealand winemakers rescued Sauvignon Blanc cuttings from the University of California.

Already by the middle 1980s the typical Marlborough New Zealand style made a name for itself and has since gone on to become known as the most distinctively Sauvignon Blanc style in the world. Since then, it has been a roller coaster for the grape which accounts for more than 60% of the country’s planted vines, and 77% of its white grape plantings. It has become a worldwide wine sensation with its unique style with zingy acidity and heady aromas of grapefruit, pineapple and lime zest, freshly mowed grass and bell pepper, an extremely memorable wine.

Now New Zealand and Marlborough have become the world capital of the Sauvignon Blanc.