With summer firmly here, we’ve rounded up the best white wines for you to stock up on. Whether picnicking with friends, enjoying a relaxed BBQ at home, or looking for something a little bit more special, we’ve hand selected the best bottles to buy right now.
1. López de Haro Rioja Blanco
Although better known for its bold reds, Spain’s premier wine region Rioja produces white wines that are just as varied, exciting and high-quality. This is a premier example, an interesting and complex wine. Fresh with notes of citrus and tropical fruits. Soft citrus fruit and pear flavours mingle with the richer oak characters of spicy toastiness and buttery notes on the finish. This is wonderful with salty, tapas-style food like salted almonds or Serrano ham.
2. Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc
It doesn’t come much classier than Villa Maria’s Marlborough sauvignon blanc. Sourced from vineyards across the Marlborough region, this intense Sauvignon Blanc is alive with a myriad of flavours dominated by gooseberry, passionfruit, fresh citrus and herbaceous aromas. This Sauvignon Blanc is the perfect pairing with seafood and all white meats.
3. Calvet South of France Picpoul de Pinet
Crystal clear colour with green highlights, Calvet Picpoul de Pinet offers a soft and delicate nose with pleasant hints of acacia and hawthorn blossom. Delicate and fresh in the mouth this wine has an excellent acid/structure balance. Splendid with seafood, shellfish as well as traditional Mediterranean dishes. It goes surprisingly good with rich cheeses, delicatessen and chocolate desert.
4. 3 Wooly Sheep Sauvignon Blanc
This fantastic Sauvignon Blanc is one of our most popular wines. Made by the Lawsons Family Vineyards, a byword for quality New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc for nearly 20 years. It’s fun labelling has created somewhat of a cult following for itself, but the quality of the wine also speaks for itself. Chock full of lime fruit, elderflower, and grapefruit this white is great on its own or with try with salads, moules marinere and most other seafoods.
5. Oyster Bay Marlboro Sauvignon Blanc
Oyster Bay has been an award-winning gold-standard Marlborough Sauvignon since its very first vintage, and it’s only got better and better. It was even formerly named the ‘Best Sauvignon Blanc in the World’ – and they have the name recognition to prove it. It’s really no surprise then that their Sauvignon is textbook Marlborough. Big. Fruity. Tropical. Try to match it with curry, goat’s cheese, chicken or seafood to get the best of its fabulous flavours, or simply drink it on its own!
6. Saint Clair Marlborough Origin Sauvignon Blanc 2020
Expressive aromas of tropical passionfruit, guava and grapefruit with a subtle hint of sea salt. Palate: The palate is full of passionfruit and blackcurrant flavours along with herbaceous characters of nettle and green capsicum. Rich and weighty with a salty, chalky minerality and a clean fresh finish. The Saint Clair Sauvignon Blanc pairs wonderfully with antipasto, grilled seasonal vegetables or fresh seafood.
7. Porta 6 White
The hills around Lisbon are a hive of wine-growing activity. This refreshing white, or ‘vinho branco’, has an attractive label designed by renowned German illustrator Hauke Vagt depicting the bustle of everyday life in the Portuguese capital. This wine exudes aromas of tropical and citrus fruits with passion fruit to the fore in its pleasantly fresh flavours. Pair with grilled fish, pasta, white meats or enjoy on its own as an aperitif.
8. 19 Crimes Sauvignon Blanc
Light but unique in character, this approachable Sauvignon Blanc is filled with aromas of passion fruit, grapefruit, gooseberry and guava. 19 Crimes Sauvignon Block is light bodied with a fresh, crisp finish and a light straw colour. Best paired with seafood and green vegetables.
9. Holy Snail Sauvignon Blanc
Award winning wine from master winemaker, Thierry Delaunay. A classic old world Sauvignon that is a half-way house from a Sancerre to a Kiwi, fruit driven style; lovely! Captivatingly fresh, beautifully balanced, long and full in the mouth, it unleashes many complex aromas (exotic fruits, blackcurrant buds, grapefruit, peach), as well as floral notes. A must have! This wine will pair beautifully with rich fish (salmon, tuna etc), shellfish, vegetarian foods, goat’s cheese and is also perfect chilled and sipped on it’s own.
10. The Crossings Marlboro Pinot Gris
The Crossings Marlborough Pinot Gris, a fabulous wine created from carefully selected grapes, sourced from vineyards in Awatere Valley, Marlborough and picked at the point of optimum flavour development. Like all of The Crossings range of wines, this Pinot Gris is a true elegant expression of Marlborough. The palate is luscious and generous showing wonderful balance between fruit and acidity with a long dry finish. Enjoy with poultry and mushroom dishes such as creamy pasta with porcini.