Saint Clair Wairau Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2024 from Marlborough is a benchmark New Zealand savvy – the top Wairau Valley batch picked from blind tastings and bottled as the estate’s flagship sauvignon. It is explosive, pure and saline, with real weight and precision in the glass.

Aromas burst with blackcurrant leaf and bud, passionfruit, gooseberry and pink grapefruit, threaded with tomato vine, fresh herbs and a salty, wet‑stone lift. The palate is generous and rich yet brilliantly balanced – intense flavours of passionfruit, redcurrant, papaya and citrus riding over zesty acidity and a streak of saline minerality, finishing long, weighty and mouth‑watering. It feels both hedonistic and finely cut.

Saint Clair Wairau Reserve is superb with oysters, mussels, sushi, ceviche, asparagus with hollandaise or goat’s cheese and rocket salad. Drink it now for maximum aromatic fireworks, or over the next three to four years as the tropicals mellow and the mineral, citrus and subtle spice notes come forward.