£14.95–£17.99, Divine Fine Wines and other independents
Maybe it's hankering after something to match, rather than beat, the mood of bracing January weather. Maybe it's the thought of a vitalising tonic. Maybe it's just that a lot of the new-vintage southern hemisphere Sauvignons take to the shelves. Whatever, there's always a moment in January when I crave Sauvignon Blanc. The latest Greywacke Sauvignon hits the spot. I tasted it before Christmas then again last week when winemaker Kevin Judd gave a tasting to celebrate ten years since he founded Greywacke (leaving his post as chief winemaker at Cloudy Bay after 25 years). The tasting of new releases and library vintages across the range of seven wines got off to a stirring start with the 2018 Sauvignon, followed by the first vintage, 2009, which showed just how well these Sauvignons age, gaining in smoky, flinty, spicy complexity while retaining their zing. The 2018 is vibrant and vivid, but Judd's style isn't the bracingly grassy green Marlborough style. Greywacke is riper and fruitier, with the citrus zest and verdant herbal notes woven into a swirl of white peach and a streak of stem ginger and an extra dimension from a small amount of wild ferment. Drink it on its own, or with Asian spiced dishes, herbed fish, shellfish, salty, crumbly and goats' cheeses, tomatoes, red peppers, beetroot and other roast roots. Even more important, do try other Greywacke wines, such as the rich, minerally Wild Sauvignon, fine, complex Chardonnay and aromatic sweet wines.
Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2018, Marlborough, New Zealand
£14.95, Divine Fine Wines; £16.99, or £14.99 mix-six, The New Zealand House of Wine; £16.60, Exel Wines; £16.95, Vinvm; £17.50, The Wine Society; £17.99, or £97 for six, Noel Young Wines