Tannic Panic! Issue #146: What’s Gooseberries Part 3

2025 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc – values "supreme” or freshly crushed dreams? A "comprehensive" review.

Tannic Panic!, Isaac K. Brown, and Zach O'Brown

Jul 13, 2026

It’s May… again and that means it’s May again. It also means the temperatures are “rising,” the kids are “hitting the pool decks,” and “GOOSEBERRY FEVER” is returning with VOLCANIC VENGEANCE. Did we mention that it’s May?

So what exactly is “Gooseberry Fever”?

The AI overview of a cursory Google search defines “Gooseberry fever” as “either the passionate collecting of vintage Pyrex bakeware” or “the use of Indian gooseberry as an Ayurvedic remedy for fever.”

By those definitions, needless to say, we all “suffer from the fever.”

And while this almost “rendered” the need for today’s blog post completely unnecessary, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to “dive a little deeper” and ask ourselves the really hard questions.

▶ Why are we here?

▶ When will the gooseberries arrive?

▶ And who pissed my jorts?

But we’ve also taken it upon ourselves to taste a bunch of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from the 2025 vintage, and on some level, that may be why we’re all here. Asking these difficult questions. In May.

We do this “every year” because Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is one of the best sources of consistent quality and value out there. You could basically ball up your jorts and throw them at that section of the “wine store” and you’d be pretty safe in assuming you’ll knock a few bottles off the shelf and break them.

2025 Vintage in Marlborough

“We” call this one “year of the gooseberry” – but don’t take our word for it:

According to the Marlborough wine “website” (which features reports from a number of regional winemakers and their associates) it was a “smooth and easy” (LIKE ME!) vintage with even ripening and higher than typical crop yields which required careful management to ensure concentration and high fruit quality, but which also presented an opportunity to be more selective during harvest.

Weather was described as “favorable” and concentration levels were described as “good” (UNLIKE MINE). Matt Mitchell of Marisco winery described the flowering and fruitset as being some of the best they’ve ever had, and winemaker Eva Pemper called “flavor and personality” marks of the vintage. All of this to say, it sounds like things went just fine in the vineyard. How they went “in the bottle” remains to be “seen.”

Before we “dive” into the proverbial “juice” — we’d like to call out that, in spite of our efforts to apply our little system as objectively as possible, there is inevitably some bias in our grading caused by the overall quality of the category. That is to say, Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is broadly an “above average” quality category of wine, so when tasting many back to back, it is difficult not to do a little inadvertent grading on a curve. It is highly likely that some of the lower scorers here would perform better if pitted against wines we’ve rated the same in the past, but as Tupac once said, “that’s just the way it is.”

To make it easier to navigate, we’ve included our “value scores” in tandem with the 100 point score to give you a more complete sense of how we felt about these wines.

Thank you for your “understanding.”

Without further ado…

… AND NOW FOR THE REVIEWS (IN ORDER OF PRICE):

[CLICK HERE FOR A BREAKDOWN OF HOW OUR RATING SYSTEMS WORK]

2025 White Cloud Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc / $12
Profile: Green pear, green apple, lemon, lime, passionfruit, fresh cut grass, cat pee
Palate: Dry, high acid, medium- body, medium finish
Green apple and underripe green pear and citrusy notes are the dominant flavors with a bit of passionfruit, grass and a notable aroma of “cat pee” (THE BAD KIND!), a “hallmark” note in some Marlborough Sauvignon Blancs. This was a decent wine in the price category, but again, there are much more “intriguing” options in a similar price range.
Score breakdown: Balance 34 / Aroma/Flavor 15 / Concentration 12 / Length 12 / Complexity 7 = 80 points (Z)
Value for money (1-4): 3
2025 Oyster Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc / $14
Profile: Grass and green pepper, basil, passionfruit, pineapple, pear, nectarine, lemon, metallic aroma
Palate: Dry, high acid, medium- body, long finish
This is one of those bottles voted “most likely to be seen on shelf, Class of 2025.” Prominent green pepper and grass notes intermingling with tropical notes like passionfruit and pineapple. A little metallic aroma, like a wet metal bowl, citrusy flavors and a slightly bitter aftertaste. Not the most unique or intense example, but definitely an excellent value for the price and easy to find.
Score Breakdown: Balance: 36 / Aroma/Flavor: 16 / Concentration: 14 / Complexity: 7 / Length: 15 = 88 Points (TP)
Value for money (1-4): 4
2025 Sea Pearl Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc / $14
Profile: Mango, passionfruit, green pepper, grass, lychee, peach, lemon, wet stone, hint of fresh rubber
Palate: Dry, high acid, med- body, long finish
For all you “mango lovers” out there, this one’s for you. I loved this wine and was surprised by it because in previous “gooseberry” posts, this one was a bit of a let down for me (don’t think it even made the list). Not super complex in terms of sheer volume of different notes, but intensity of tropical fruit and awesome precision makes for a really interesting spectrum of flavors that make it shine. Such clear mango, that’s what stands out the most. Tropical fruits of “various kinds,” some stone fruit, not a ton of citrus, blah blah blah, carry the two, a really cool wine at a great price.
Score Breakdown: Balance: 38 / Aroma/Flavor: 17 / Concentration: 15 / Complexity: 7 / Length: 15 = 92 Points (I)
Value for money (1-4): 4
2025 Mud House Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc / $14
Profile: Lemon peel, chalk, cantaloupe, grapefruit, pineapple, white peach
Palate: Dry, high acid, light body, long finish
Basic, nice, but mostly just citrus dominated on the palate. Long finish but not super interesting especially for the category. Nonetheless, much like the bulk of the bottles we tasted this week, it’s still pretty solid for the price.
Score Breakdown: Balance: 35 / Aroma/Flavor: 15 / Concentration: 15 / Complexity: 6 / Length: 15 = 86 Points (I)
Value for money (1-4): 3
2025 Kono Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc / $14
Profile: Lemon, lime, green apple, fresh cut grass, lychee, green pepper, swimming pool
Palate: Dry, high acid, light body, medium finish
Dominated by searing acidity and a primarily citrus-driven profile along with grass and green pepper notes and a bit of “swimming pool” (THE GOOD KIND!). An OK light-bodied wine, but there are much more interesting and concentrated options in the category and price range.
Score breakdown: Balance 33 / Aroma/Flavor 15 / Concentration 12 / Length 12 / Complexity 5 = 77 points (Z)
Value for money (1-4): 2
2025 Kim Crawford Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc / $15
Profile: White flowers, grapefruit, cantaloupe, honeydew, pear, a little passionfruit but softer
Palate: Dry, high acid, light body, long finish
Imbibing this wine was like drinking world class citrus juice with a spritz of “perfume”. Aromatics were quite nice, but really very little going on on the palate. Definitely refreshing and generally good quality, but within the category this vintage of Kimmy C is a probably skip for me if I can find other options on the shelf. I was tempted to lower the scores on length and concentration because relative to other wines in the category this one clearly falls short, but in the context of our system, it still gets nearly full marks there. Maybe a flaw with the system we need to address in the future.
This is probably up there with Oyster Bay in terms of being the most widely distributed, but for this vintage, Oyster Bay clearly outshone it. Plus you get to save a shiny little dollar.
Score Breakdown: Balance: 33 / Aroma/Flavor: 15 / Concentration: 14 / Complexity: 6 / Length: 15 = 83 Points (I)
Value for money (1-4): 3
2025 Grove Mill Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc / $15
Profile: Passionfruit, guava, peaches, gardenia, lemon, grass, grapefruit, bubblegum
Palate: Dry, high acid, med- body, long finish
I’ve always been a cheerleader for this wine, think it absolutely smashes yam for the price and this vintage was no exception. Honestly, if you see this on shelves, catch em all — can’t do much better for $15.
Score Breakdown: Balance: 38 / Aroma/Flavor: 18 / Concentration: 15 / Complexity: 7 / Length: 15 = 93 Points (I)
Value for money (1-4): 4
2025 Whitehaven Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc / $18
Profile: Floral (jasmine, honeysuckle), lemon peel, lime, grapefruit, chalky, canned peaches
Palate: Dry, high acid, light body, med+ finish
Surprised by this one — it was so dominated by the ultra high acid and citrusy flavors that in spite of what the “other aromatics” promised, it felt far less complex in the gullet. It was also more aromatically restrained than many of the others we tasted. Past vintages have been better in my opinion. It’s a shame because I think that it has seen the price go up substantially since it first hit shelves, probably due to the good reputation those earlier vintages earned it. This was still quite good, but you can definitely do better for the price within the category.
Score Breakdown: Balance: 35 / Aroma/Flavor: 15 / Concentration: 15 / Complexity: 6 / Length: 15 = 86 Points (I)
Value for money (1-4): 3
2025 Juggernaut Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc / $18
Profile: Passionfruit, citrus hops, grapefruit, lemon peel, grass, lime, lychee, white flowers
Palate: Dry, high acid, med- body, long finish
This is from the Bogle “family” of wines, and I had not tried it before. Wasn’t expecting much given my experience with the “other” Bogle offerings of recent years, but was surprised to find a rich, ripe, concentrated, wine with a nice balance of tropical and citrus alongside some grass notes for an extremely classic #MNZSB. Label is pretty too, which is a nice bonus if you’re into that “kind of thing.”
Score Breakdown: Balance: 35 / Aroma/Flavor: 16 / Concentration: 15 / Complexity: 7 / Length: 15 = 88 Points (I)
Value for money (1-4): 3