jamie goode's wine blog: Montana Sauvignon Blanc: new release of an affordable iconic wine

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Montana Sauvignon Blanc: new release of an affordable iconic wine


The first release of Montana Sauvignon Blanc was in 1979, which puts it at the dawn of history in this, the largest and most well known of New Zealand’s wine regions. Considering the impact that Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc has had on the wine world, it’s amazing to consider that this region didn’t really take off until the mid-1980s.

New Zealand has a history of wine dating back to 1819, when the first grape vines were planted by a missionary named Samuel Marsden in the north of North Island (although there’s no record of him making wine – you have to wait another 16 years for this). But until the 1970s, the wine industry didn’t develop much. Indeed, an early edition of Hugh Johnson’s famous World Atlas of Wine dating from 1970 doesn’t even mention New Zealand.

Some growth occurred in the 1970s, but then there was a problem of over-production that resulted in a vine pull. The problem was that Kiwis generally preferred beer to wine.

It was in 1973 that Montana planted the first commercial vines of the modern era in Marlborough. Montana founder Frank Yukich decided read more...

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1 Comments:

At 8:53 PM, Blogger GollyGumDrops said...

Hurrah! I'm looking forward to picking some up.

 

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