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Marlborough
Marlborough, in New Zealand's south island, ranks alongside Sancerre and Pouilly-sur-Loire as one of the greatest Sauvignon Blanc regions of the world. But it hasn't always been so. While it was New Zealand's original Sauvignon region, it may surprise you to know the first commercial winery was established there as recently as 1973. By the year 2000, the number of wine producers in the region had risen to 62 … and the iconic Cloudy Bay, once regarded as New Zealand's only ‘first growth' had been joined – and in some cases equalled - by dozens of other great estates.
What makes Marlborough special and so well suited to Sauvignon is the rare combination of long days, cool nights, plenty of sunshine and, more often than not, fairly dry autumns. This long, cool ripening period allows a wonderful build-up in the grapes of sugars and aromatic compounds without any significant loss of acidity. This is what gives Marlborough Sauvignon its powerfully distinctive, pungency and freshness.
The region has also had some success with Chardonnay and Riesling. It has even earned a reputation for high quality sparkling wines - lead by Cloudy Bay's Pelorus - thanks to naturally high acidity and purity of flavour in the wines.
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