2015 Te Mania Estate Sauvignon Blanc Nelson 750 ml

2015 Te Mania Sauvignon Blanc … “So Much for Cloudy Bay!!”

Thousands visit Nelson each year. Situated at the top northwest corner of the South Island, it’s the sunniest spot in New Zealand. Some come for the five-day trek through Abel Tasman National Park, some for Nelson’s clear blue coastline — the kayaking and snorkeling. But we went to Nelson just to see Steve Gill and his amazing Te Mania.

For those of you who (like us) are all too frequently disappointed by everyday Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc, rest assured, there’s nothing common about Gill’s brilliant 2015 Sauvignon Blanc. The vast majority of the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that makes it stateside is dreck. Drawn from overly fertile vineyards farmed to 7-10 tons per acre, most examples are lackluster and dilute. But the best whites of New Zealand are rarely seen in the U.S. The elite of Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc (which give Sancerre a run for its money) largely make a beeline for Beijing, Tokyo, or Singapore. Otherwise, they’re quickly sucked up by the locals. Except for a precious few.

This is one that got away.

If you go to Nelson, get ready to lather on the sunscreen. Summer highs climb into the mid-80s, but it’s the nighttime dip that tells much of the Sauvignon Blanc story at Te Mania. “The nights are cold,” Gill told us. “It’s that diurnal temperature shift that gives Te Mania its crispness. But it’s really the work in the vines that accounts for all the richness.”

While most in New Zealand were sucked in by the promise of quick U.S. dollars in the 1990s — driving production costs down by pushing yields to the max — Te Mania stuck to its guns. Gill’s vines are farmed to just two shoots per plant and just three or four clusters per shoot, following strictest Sancerre protocol. The harvest is done by hand, each bunch gently dropped into small bins, en route to Steve’s crusher. The vinification here is long and cool, magnifying extraction and apple/pear concentration — all that juiciness bracketed by cold-night zest.

The 2015 Te Mania Sauvignon Blanc is brilliant pale straw in hue. Bigger and broader than the 2014, infused with fleshy aromas of ripe apple, ripe citrus and passion fruit. High-toned, vibrant, yet fabulously rich and weighty — filled with a juicy mix of lemon-lime tart, apple compote, and ripe citrus, despite the unusual opulence of the vintage, still finishing with bracing acidity. One of the top two or three Kiwi Sauvignon Blancs we’ve tasted, this is Steve Gill at his best, from a vintage that won’t soon be forgotten on the South Island.

$30 on release. Today, HALF OFF — $14.99 — AND LAST CALL to anyone still digging out after last week’s nor’easter, and to those of you in warmer states, ready for a crisp, cold, fleshy white to help soak in Daylight Savings Time. Shipping included on 6.