Wine with Leslie Williams: Opening my mind to the grape wine writers love to hate, sauvignon blanc

So in the last few weeks, I have been tackling one of my prejudices and opening my mind to the grape consumers love and wine writers love to hate, sauvignon blanc. It sort of worked, and some of the good ones I found are recommended below.

First, there was the New Zealand fair in mid-January which had lots more sauvignons that I liked than disliked and the general trend seems to be towards passionfruit and away from the dreaded asparagus and green beans. I love asparagus on my plate but consider it a fault when I smell it in sauvignon — usually indicative of grapes being picked too late. I found far more elegance than fruit and acidity as would have been the case in previous years.