This Koura Bay wine is a perfect example of the pungent cat-pee-phenomenon in New World Sauvignon Blanc. I used to think that the description of that profile would turn people off – but oddly, people seem to get addicted to it, which just goes to show how fetishist wine lovers can be.

Sauvignon Blanc and New Zealand are pretty much synonymous and interchangeable. Insofar as New World goes, New Zealand is Sauvignon Blanc. And soon enough I will tell you how $15 Spanish SB knocks the socks off Sancerre, but allow me to sing the praises of New Zealand, and especially Mary Bank a little more. It’s colour has a pale-straw hue, following through to a cut-lawn cum grapefruit profile with a hint of kiwi fruit. On the entry there’s that signature SB Zing which just electrifies the mouth, and the wine keep delivering new layers of fruit as it warms up and opens out.