Spring, with its daffodils and bouncy lambs, is the perfect time for a tidy-up. After a long afternoon of cleaning cupboards, it seems only right to reward ourselves with a glass of wine. But why not spring clean your taste buds as well as the sock drawer? Brush aside your usual tipple and try something new.
If your go-to is a sauvignon blanc
Try albarino: If it’s the high-wire acidity and cut-grass wake-up call for your taste buds that you like about sav, albarino wines will deliver. Originating in northwest Spain and well suited to the New Zealand climate, expect the crisp flavours of white peach, grapefruit pith sprinkled with sea salt.
Similarly zippy is gruner veltliner. An import from Austria, gruner veltliner wines are more subtle than sauvignon blanc with flavours of white pepper, green tea, citrus pith and a stony backbone that makes it one of the most food-friendly whites on earth. A few New Zealand producers are now growing it locally, which makes it easier to find.
While you may have to hunt around for it, tempranillo blanco has the bright acidity and citrus freshness that sauvignon blanc drinkers will relate to but adds white stone fruit and a slightly creamy feel in your mouth, all with a distinctly Spanish vibe that is hard to forget.
Esk Valley Artisanal Albarino, Hawkes Bay
$19.99 (usually 24.99) at The Good Wine Co
Imagine a plate of juicy spiced peaches, sprinkled with grated lemon peel and a side of guava and pineapple. That’s what you will find in a glass of this classy wine.
Seifried Nelson Grüner Veltliner
$20 at Seifried
With its crunchy green apples, juicy pears, honeydew melons, white peaches and a touch of something floral, this wine will wake up any sleepy taste buds.
Nivarius Tempranillo Blanco Rioja
$31 at Cult Wine
A luscious wine dripping with salty peaches, vanilla, spice and a tonic-like vibe.
If your go-to is a pinot gris
Try chenin blanc from the Loire Valley if it’s the round, honeyed style of pinot gris that you like. With a hint of juicy fruit sweetness, along with crisp acidity, you will enjoy the quince paste, apricot and mineral flavours. Find an older bottle and taste how it ages in a way that pinot gris simply cannot, developing beeswax and a stony depth over time that turns a good bottle into a genuinely great one.
Central Italy gives us verdicchio and what a gift. Like pinot gris, it is a food-friendly wine with fruity flavours, as well as a touch of almond nuttiness, crunchy Granny Smith apple and crisp bright lemons all wrapped up with a subtle waxy feel in your mouth.
If you are up for a more aromatic option, try a dry gewurztraminer. It takes everything pinot gris has on offer and commits to it fully: lychee, rose petal, ginger, a luscious oily texture and a finish that lingers long after you have put the glass down.
Soave wines, from northwest Italy, have the fruity, white blossom, and full body that pinot gris drinkers will find immediately familiar but with an Italian spin: a clean, slightly nutty bitterness and a uber-cool stony quality. Look for soave classico on the label, which means it is made from grapes from the original hillside vineyards rather than the expanded flatland version for the total experience.
Matawhero Church House Chenin Blanc
$28.99 at Advintage
A lush wine with pineapple, orange and lime zest, apricot and honeysuckle flavours.
Garofoli Verdicchio Anfora, 2023
$24.99 at Whiskey and More
Not only is the bottle super stylish, but the fresh, fruity wine inside is too.
Lawsons Dry Hills Gewürztraminer
$21.99 at Woolworths
A bold choice packed full of rose petals, lychees and ginger.
Ventiterre Soave, 2024 Italy
$20.99 at Mineral
Don’t be fooled by the delicate pale straw colour, this wine delivers green apple and floral flavours with intensity.
If your go-to is chardonnay
Especially oaked chardonnay, you are going to love viognier. These wines need no oak, because the grape does all the work, delivering flavours of apricot, peach blossom, honeysuckle, a full buttery body, then an unexpectedly dry finish. It is extravagant without being sweet, which surprises most first-time sippers.
Classic wines from northern Rhone made with marsanne and roussanne, with a bit of age become golden and honeyed, with beeswax, marzipan and dried apricot dripping all over each other. Young marsanne is deceptively simple at first: pear, white blossom and a faint honeysuckle sweetness that makes it easy to underestimate, until its waxy, almost lanolin texture arrives and reminds you this is a grape that knows exactly what it is doing. You may not look at chardonnay again.
If you like your chardonnay clean and crisp without the butter and vanilla, fiano from Campania in southern Italy is where you should go next. It has that same satisfying body and food-friendliness, but brings toasted hazelnuts, beeswax and ripe pear into the mix. The finish is often long and slightly smoky, with a dried herb quality that lingers in a way that makes you think about the wine for a moment longer than you would expect.
Yalumba Y Series Viognier, 2023 South Australia
$12.99 (usually $16) at The Good Wine Co
At this banging price, there is no risk in trying this wine. You will be rewarded with a potpourri of fruit.
Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels Marsanne Roussanne, 2025
$42.99 at Trinity Hill
A classic, classy wine packed full of flavour: green apple, apricot, lime peel, pears and honeysuckle.
Masseria Altemura ‘Apulo’ Fiano, Italy
$23.99 at Wine Direct
Enjoy the flavours of peach, grapefruit and lemon peel, followed by hints of orange blossom, jasmine and lemon balm.
Read next:
- Winter’s latest & greatest food and drink launches
- 5 of our favourite new cookbooks
- Your guide to the ultimate home bar setup
