On a macroclimate level are things such as the number of growing season daylight hours and sunshine hours a year, the average temperature, the diurnal temperature range, average rainfall and when it falls, prevailing wind and more.
On a microclimate level there is the soil: its colour (and therefore, how quickly it heats up), water permeability (free draining), how fertile (or infertile) it is, the actual composition of the soil (clay, sand, schist etc) and so on.
Aligned to that we have inclination (is it flat or sloping) aspect (is it, for example, north, northwest or west facing), altitude, row orientation, are there hollows where cold air pools, are there areas subject to a wind tunnel effect (which could restrict ripening) proximity to bodies of water, is it frost prone?
Burgundy in France, Barolo in Italy and the Mosel Valley in Germany are three areas in Europe where huge importance is given to the particular site.
Over centuries of trial and error, and observation, they have worked out which sites see the sun first (or last) in the day, which have the snow melt first, which are last to succumb to frost, and which consistently make better wine, and developed a hierarchical system to codify it.
The French have a handy catch-all term that encompasses all the above influences — terroir.
A comparative tasting of the Felton Road Block 2 and Block 6 chardonnays with their viticulturist Gareth King last year was illuminating.
The same vine age, farmed identically and given identical treatment in the winery yet the wines, both delicious in their own ways, were fascinatingly different. More study is needed urgently ... now where were those wine glasses?
2015 Churton Best End Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc
Price: $47
Rating: Outstanding
Complex nose with feijoa, grass, sweat and smoky notes; capsicum with time. Intense in the mouth, creamy, textural and weighty adding notes of citrus, wet stone, gunflint, wood smoke and dried herb on a sweet fruit core. Very food friendly. This becomes brightly zesty with time, leading to a very long, powerful, dry finish. Delicious.
2015 Allan Scott Generations Sauvignon Blanc
Price: $26
Rating: Very good
Fragrant, perfumed with elderflower and hints of gooseberry. Nice mouthfeel with sweet fruit in the tropical vein; touches of pineapple and ruby grapefruit with musk and grapefruit on the finish. Reasonably weighty, with a nice lift of acidity on the close to give freshness. In the riper fruit spectrum for sav blanc and quite appealing.
www.allanscott.com 2015
Tohu Mugwi Reserve Sauvignon Blanc
Price: $29.95
Rating: Fair to good
Challenging nose: Rotorua hot springs and sweat with fruit poking its way through. Green apple, citrus, gunflint and woodsmoke on the palate with some gooseberry elements leading to grapefruit on the finish. Funky and wild with those sulphur notes quite dominant in the wine.
