Our take
Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc New Zealand White Wine
- Style
- White wine
- Size
- 750 ml
- Grape
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Region
- New Zealand
- Shelf barcode
- 0085000012017
Our take
What we make of this bottle
28 shoppers have rated this New Zealand white, enough to place it among the more-rated wines we cover, and their average is 4.54 out of five. The grape is Sauvignon Blanc, which category guides call a white grape known for clear aromas and refreshing acidity, most often made dry. Our region research says the surrounding ocean shapes the weather in its vineyards, and it adds that at the cooler end of that range, green and citrus notes can come forward.
In our September 2026 checks the wine ranged from $17.99 to $25.99 across ten stores. Its 4.54 average runs just under the 4.71 median for the wines we cover. Whitehaven itself is family owned: the winery says Greg and Sue White founded it in 1994 in Marlborough, and it remains so today.
Whitehaven's technical sheet for the current 2025 vintage fills in that dry, refreshing profile with numbers: 13 percent alcohol and 1.4 grams per litre of residual sugar, which in plain terms is essentially a dry wine. The producer says the fruit is exclusively Marlborough-grown and carries Appellation Marlborough Wine certification, meaning it comes from vineyards farmed under the region's sustainability program and cropped within set limits. Winemaking notes describe a cool stainless-steel fermentation followed by about two months of time on the spent yeast before blending. The 2025 vintage has also drawn outside recognition: Robert Parker's Wine Advocate scored it 93 points, James Suckling gave it 90, and the wine won a Diamond Trophy and Double Gold at the 2026 Sakura Japan Women's Wine Awards.
Our call: a sound pick for the shopper who buys on a documented account; the family ownership traced above comes with named founders, a founding year and a named place, and the current vintage carries Appellation Marlborough Wine certification along with critic scores in the low 90s from outlets including Wine Advocate and James Suckling. Pass if the shopper rating is what you buy on instead; a fair-sized pool of ratings lands this bottle below the middle of the rated wines we cover.
The Grocery Store Wine Desk · written Sep 16, 2026 from our research file for this wine. Numbers reflect our latest checks.
More from the desk.
Related bottles with a written overview and a public evidence file.
Wairau River
Read our take →Chloe
Chloe Sauvignon Blanc New Zealand White Wine
Read our take →Matua Valley
Matua Sauvignon Blanc New Zealand White Wine
Read our take →Magistrate Wine
Magistrate Sauvignon Blanc White New Zealand Wine
Read our take →Te Mata
Te Mata Sauvignon Blanc Hawke's Bay New Zealand White Wine
Read our take →Starborough
Starborough Sauvignon Blanc New Zealand White Wine
Read our take →The prices we checked
Dated store checks, not a promise about your store.
- Kroger, Atlanta suburbs, GA$17.99
- Kroger, Cincinnati, OH$22.99
- Ralphs, Long Beach, CA$22.99
- Fred Meyer, Portland, OR$25.99
- King Soopers, Colorado Springs, CO$18.99
- Smith's, Las Vegas, NV$24.99
- Kroger, Knoxville, TN$19.99
- Kroger, Richmond, VA$24.99
- Fry's, Tucson, AZ$19.99
- QFC, Tacoma, WA$22.99
The regular price can vary by store and date.
From the producer
Family estate
Whitehaven says it was founded in 1994 by Greg and Sue White in New Zealand's Marlborough region, and the winery remains family owned today.
Research status
What we are still checking
Our overview above draws on the dated store feed, shopper ratings, our region and grape research, and any sourced producer facts. We are still working to confirm the current release, the full producer record, and the bottle itself, and we update this page as we learn more.
Getting to know New Zealand.
New Zealand's wine regions stretch about 1,600 kilometres from north to south. The ocean is a shared influence, but latitude, rain shadows and local landforms make the regions distinct.
What the name means
New Zealand is the country origin. Its registered wine regions, including Marlborough, Hawke's Bay and Central Otago, provide more precise geographic names.
How grapes grow here
No vineyard is more than 130 kilometres from the ocean, so maritime weather matters nationwide. Northern regions are warmer, southern regions are cooler, and mountains create dry eastern rain shadows in several major growing areas.
What lies under the vines
Young alluvial, volcanic, silt, sand and gravel soils recur across the country in different combinations. A New Zealand label without a region cannot assign the wine to one soil type.
How large the region is
- Producing vineyard area, 2026
- 43,299 hectares were reported in production.
- Producing vineyards, 2026
- The national report counted 2,019 producing vineyards.
Places within the region
- North and east
- Northland, Auckland, Gisborne and Hawke's Bay occupy generally warmer parts of the country.
- South
- Marlborough, Nelson, Canterbury and Central Otago include cooler growing areas at lower latitudes.
Getting to know Sauvignon Blanc.
Sauvignon Blanc is a white grape known for wines with clear aroma and refreshing acidity. It is usually made as a dry still wine, though sweetness and oak use vary.
Category guide
What to expect in the glass
Official regional guides describe citrus, green herbs, gooseberry and tropical fruit across the category. Cooler sites can emphasize green and citrus notes, while warmer or riper fruit can lean more tropical.
Sources: New Zealand Winegrowers; Napa Valley Vintners. Checked Aug 10, 2026. See all 83 Sauvignon Blanc wines we cover →
Where this information comes from
- Store listing
- Price, package, product identifier, and shopper rating. Checked Aug 10, 2026.
- Barcode
- The shelf barcode shown here is computed from the store product identifier. It has not been checked against a bottle.
- Method
- Every price, rating and fact here is a dated observation. How we check.