Are you ready for this? Raw, savage, primitive, primeval and confronting: these aren't, perhaps, the adjectives we most readily associate with the always-accomplished wines of New Zealand, but the full-frontal assault of vegetative and green-fruit splendour in this Awatere Valley Sauvignon Blanc sets it apart as an indigenous style maxxed out to the full. You can smell it at three paces, and once in the mouth the wine is a kind of hand-grenade of springtime flowers and early-season fruits. This is clearly a wine where origin is to the fore, and while some are going to love it, it may leave others disconcerted. If you're in the latter category, persist nonetheless: while new styles of beauty seem strange at first, we soon come to learn their language - and are grateful.
