The best under-$20 picks this week are different styles - a typically fresh zingy sauvignon blanc from Wairarapa, and a funky, mouthfilling, year-old wine from Main Divide.
It will appeal to those bored with the usual crisp green style of sauvignon.
Many of the 2010s tasted will settle and even mellow with a few more months' bottle age.
For more wines from this tasting, check out the wine reviews on www.odt.co.nzAlthough wine sent for review is tasted blind to eliminate preconceptions, all wine tasting and evaluation is subjective.
These are personal recommendations.
Main Divide Sauvignon Blanc 2009
$19.95.
A quirky but delicious wine, pungent with ripe fruit (melon, passionfruit and mint), a savoury, smoky hint, lovely rich and mouthfilling with a nice acid balance and lingering aftertaste.
A good food wine.
4 stars (out of 5)
Good value
$18
Hints of dusty gravel, passionfruit and lime, a slightly savoury, complex undertone and a fresh, crisp finish.
4 stars (out of 5)
Good value
$20
A light, fresh wine from a new producer based in the upper Wairau Valley, this oozes crisp gooseberries, newly mown grass and green kiwifruit, with a rich mouthfeel and lively, lingering finish.
Will benefit from another few months' bottle age.
4 stars (out of 5)
Average value
$20
Crisp and intense with lively hints of mineral, green melon and gooseberries, undertones of darker, savoury flavours and a tight finish.
Another wine to benefit from a few months' bottle age.
3 stars (out of 5)
Average value
$23
An attractive wine fragrant, minty with a hint of mineral, mouthfilling and textural with a clean, satisfying, nicely balanced aftertaste.
Delicious.
3 stars (out of 5)
Average value
$30
Some barrel fermentation contributes richness, texture and complexity to this wine, blending with hints of pineapple, tinned peas, nuts and caramel, resulting in a delicious, satisfying sauvignon with a long, well-balanced finish.
3 stars (out of 5)
Average value
ANOTHER GLASS
Cloudy Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2010
$30
Cloudy Bay has become a high profile luxury brand since being taken over by multinationalluxury goods firm LVMH but the wine remains typical - oozing fresh green herbs, gooseberryand currant leaf with concentrated fruit, a crisp steely backbone of acidity and a deliciousaftertaste.
Will benefit from several months further bottle age.
4 stars (out of 5)
Average value
Tiki Grey Label Single Vineyard Wairau Alpine Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2010
$25
A single vineyard wine from the upper Wairau valley, this hints of ripe apples andgooseberries with underlying suggestions of dusty gravel, and a crisp, zingy finish.
3 1/2 stars (out of 5)
Average value
Framingham F Series Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2008
$35
The F-series is the interesting result of winemaker Andrew Hedley's experimentations.
Thissauvignon is fermented with indigenous yeast which gives an attractive, mineral undertone tothe sweet fruit, texture and richness on the palate and a long satisfying, quite dry finish.
4 stars (out of 5)
Average value
