Matua Sauvignon Blanc Review

Matua Sauvignon Blanc is made in the Marlborough wine region of New Zealand.

According to the bottle, Matua claims to be New Zealand’s first Sauvignon Blanc, debuting back in 1974.

The wine has won several awards, including trophies in both the 2015 Hawke’s Bay Wine Awards and the 2013 Hong Kong International Wine Spirit Challenge.

It’s also been rated 90 points by Wine Spectator.

Matua Sauvignon Blanc Wine Review

From the bottle:

At Matua, a Maori word meaning “Head of the Family” we were the first to produce Sauvignon Blanc in New Zealand, and our passion for the grape hasn’t stopped growing.

Grapes for this wine come from the sub-regions of Wairau and Awatere Valley.  Over 100 vineyards in those sub-regions contributed fruit for Matua Sauvignon Blanc.

Matua suggests chilling this wine in the refrigerator for 45 minutes prior to serving.

I tasted the 2016 vintage of this wine and to be clear, I didn’t chill it before my tasting.  I find that I’m unable to detect nuances in a wine’s aroma and flavor when it’s chilled.

For what it’s worth, it was a warm day so I did keep the bottle in the draft of my home’s air conditioning to keep it cool.

And one more interesting note on the bottle…  It has a temperature reactive snowflake on the bottle that turns blue when the wine has been chilled to its “ready to drink” point.  It’s the round image on the bottle’s lower right that looks like an official seal in the picture above.

That I’ve never seen before!

In case you’re interested, the snowflake turned a very faint blue under the draft of my home’s A/C.  Good enough for me…  let’s drink!

Appearance

In appearance, the wine was pale white gold in color with plenty of little bubbles clinging to the glass after pouring.

A tip and spin of the glass revealed that the wine was leggy, with many quick falling drips.

Overall, beautiful in my Sauvignon Blanc wine glass.

Aroma

The wine’s aroma was light.  I needed to get my nose in there to get the full whiff.

My first impression was over ripe lemon.  However, with just the smallest bit of air, the aroma transitioned to a mellower strawberry meets cantaloupe nose.

Intriguing!

No sting at all of alcohol, even with a real strong sniff.

Matua Sauvignon Blanc alcohol content 13.0% by volume, per the bottle.

Taste

I went in expecting sweet citrus flavors but was met with a more tangy, lemony flavor.

It was especially bright in flavor on the tip of my tongue.

It was tart but enjoyable.  I immediately started thinking the acidity would be perfect for cutting through a buttery dish.

Finish

Even with the first sip, I noticed a long but dry finish with this wine.

There’s a good amount of tannins with this white wine.

If you really take a big sip and swirl it around in your mouth, the citrus flavor holds on.

A small sip seems to go “right to dry.”

Overall Opinion

Overall, I found this wine to be quite enjoyable.

Sometimes Sauvignon Blanc can seem a bit watered down for me, but this one was bold in aroma and flavor.

I also liked all the little surprises this wine gave me.  It struck me as a very multi-faceted wine.

Matua Sauvignon Blanc price $10.99, making it a great under $20.00 choice for a nice New Zealand Sauvy.

Suggested Food Pairing

Let’s go with Matua’s suggested pairing for this wine:  Summer Lemon and Prawn Risotto.

I’d suggest also finding a way to sneak some butter into that recipe to balance out the wine’s acidity.

Tasty!