2017 Smith & Sheth Cru Sauvignon Blanc Wairau Valley Marlborough New Zealand 750 ml

They say that the best wines often come from the most beautiful places. The 2017 Smith & Sheth Cru Sauvignon Blanc is a deliciously convincing argument for the truth of that statement: Maybe it was the power of suggestion, but our team here was pretty sure that we could taste the brilliant sunshine over the mountains and stony minerality of the mighty Wairau River’s banks in every sip. Even if it was our imagination, the end result was the same: A bottle of one of the most exciting, exuberant, and altogether expressive New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs we’ve ever been able to offer.

So it makes perfect sense that the dream team of Master of Wine Steve Smith—if you’ve ever enjoyed a bottle of Craggy Range, he’s the reason why—and Texas-born vintner Brian Sheth decided to head to the Wairau Valley for their Sauvignon Blanc.

It was a smart move: The 2017 Smith & Sheth Cru Sauvignon Blanc has become a benchmark for the vintage, and a wildly affordable one at less than $25 per bottle. It’s an absolutely stunning bottle to which Wine Advocate awarded 93 points (the highest score awarded to a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc in 2017, and within a point of the top-scoring Sauvignon Blanc of all time), calling it “round, even voluptuous on the palate, offering up flavors of nectarine, bergamot and fig that ease into hints of orange sherbet on the long finish.”

New Zealand’s Wairau Valley looks exactly like wine country should: Rolling vines as far as the eye can see, endless parallel rows blurring in the foggy distance as mountains begin reaching up toward the sky above. The air smells of fresh grass and minerals, a hint of flowers hovering above it all. No wonder the country’s Sauvignon Blanc boom began here: It’s easily among the best places on the planet for the cultivation of world-class white wine.

Before we were able to get our hands on it, this wine was unheard of on American soil. 2019 was the first year it has been available in the United States...aside, presumably, from a few smart tourists who smuggled back a bottle or two in their luggage. And unlike so many of the Marlborough Sauvignon Blancs that have captured the market, the Smith & Sheth Cru is made in the sort of small quantities that guarantee it expresses the thoroughly unique terroir and climate of its region with a shimmering sense of clarity—think of the Cloudy Bay Te Koko bottling and you’re in the right ballpark.

It bursts from the glass with stone and tropical fruit, shimmering with the sort of energy and complexity that only the intersection of great terroir and perfectly dialed-in winemaking ever achieve. And the fruit itself is some of the most remarkable in Marlborough: It’s harvested from 25- to 30-year-old vines near Renwick, not far from where the original vineyards of Marlborough were planted.

Don’t let this one get snapped up by everyone else. Between the high scores, the price, and its rarity on American soil, we don’t expect it to last long at all.