Mention the name Cloudy Bay and you’re in the company of Bugati, Mont Blanc, Gucci and all such prized possessions around the world. It’s been the trailblazer for New Zealand and can claim buckets of credit for putting this tiny winemaking nation on the map. For many, Cloudy Bay is the first word in top class Sauvignon Blanc.

Well we’re about to risk our reputation and throw down the gauntlet. Because, in case you didn’t know it, there have been big changes at Cloudy Bay over the years. The much-reputed winemaker and viticulturist who both spent decades at the winery have moved on to new paths and, quite frankly, we think it’s showing.

Cloudy Bay is a highly oiled, international brand today; and good on those Kiwis for getting it to the world stage. Of course, such is the kudos of, and insatiable appetite for this brand, that more and more Sauvignon Blanc is being produced. However, price is a major barrier. It is, as the French would say, astronomique. I mean €30 for a bottle of Sauvi - can that be all that savvy?

Perhaps it’s an ownership thing – it is today owned by the giant French multinational luxury goods firm LMVH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy), so perhaps there’s a luxurious profit required too?

One of the previous masters from Cloudy Bay is now quietly crafting his skills in another sublime Sauvignon Blanc on our shelves. That chap is Frank Manifold, an unassuming genius of Sauvignon Blanc winemaking who spent years with Cloudy Bay and, as the production giant grew, knew his calling was in a new home; a boutique label that would allow him to weave his magic without the formulaic restraints of a commercial giant.

You may know the name of his new home, Waipara Springs, from the tiny snowcapped region of Waipara, which just happens to be the fastest growing wine region in New Zealand. Waipara Springs are the oldest kids on the block - small, family owned, and now winning accolades left right and centre. They offered the freedom for a winemaker to reveal all the miraculous layers that live in their limestone rich vines. Frank Manifold loved their philosophy and loved their soils even more, and a miraculous marriage was born.

Now although they’d never reveal their cards, there’s probably more than 500,000 bottles of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc rolling off the bottling line each year. In Waipara Springs’ case we’re talking minuscule numbers – they’re the Bugati winemakers of New Zealand, producing just 5,000 cases a year and with no wish to leap any way too far beyond that number. It unashamedly translates to handcrafted, allowing them to coax that extra special something out of the vines and take the greatest care in everything they do. We think it shows in a delicious range now landed in Ireland.

We now have the Waipara Springs 2008 Sauvignon Blanc in our Wine Warehouse, the first wine created by an ex Cloudy Bay talent. At our New Zealand tasting it wowed the crowd. And not that we need the reinforcement, but the current Wine Spectator Magazine (one of the lead authorities in wine buying in the U.S.) gave it a whopping 89 points, saying of it ‘Bright and juicy, with dazzling grapefruit and pineapple flavours, a wine with real polish’.