25 of the best New Zealand wines for spring

Ripe, pure, complex and developing, with a core of tropical and orchard fruits, a fine toasty leesy layer and enticing minerality. Lovely mealy, fine-textured mouthfeel, enhancing flavours of peach, apple and tropical fruits then herbs and leesy autolysis. Well made with a very lengthy finish. Delicious!

Complex, flinty, mineral, wild and earthy. Aromas and flavours of peach and preserved lemon, tropical flowers and grapefruit, hay, fresh herb and fruit spice. Distinctive texture with a fine lees, brisk acidity and a mineral mouthfeel. Expressive and complex, lengthy and delicious. A fascinating wine!

Delicate, pure and enticing bouquet of citrus blossoms, apple, minerals, autolysis notes and gentle wood spice suggestions. Equally layered and long on the palate, where the flavours mirror the nose and develop more complexity as the wine relaxes in the glass. Pure fruited with indulgent textures and flavours.

Fruit-centric aromas of fresh gooseberry and pineapple, plus wild basil and silty mineral soil undertones. Just dry on the palate with the core of fruit driving the flavours: pineapple and apple, lemon and gooseberry. Plenty of refreshing acidity with a light saline edge. Well made, crisp, refreshing and balanced.

Pure, focused and complex bouquet of white-fleshed orchard fruits, ripe citrus, herbs, spicy minerals and a fine lees layer. Tense, youthful and dry on the palate with flavours of sweet citrus, green apple and pear. Persistent fresh herb, lees and stony mineral notes are carried through by the acidity. An exacting example.

Complex, integrated and youthful. There's a flinty edginess at first, then flavours of peach, lemon, herbs and fine lees. The core of minerality and ripe fruit extends the finish, and the satin-textured palate gives the wine great mouthfeel and finesse.

An enticing, mineral, floral then varietal bouquet with aromas of silica and clay soil, rosé, peach and sweet lemon. There's a soft herb layer adding finesse and complexity. Youthful, crisp, refreshing and dry palate, with a gentle saline note and flavours of lemon, peach and barley sugar before more soft sage-like herbs return.

Distinctive aroma of fresh peach, waxy lemon, sweet hay and honeysuckle, then a whisper of marmalade. Harmonious and complete on the palate with a silky-soft creamy texture, contrasting acidity and dynamic citrus and stone fruit flavours. Delicious, balanced and well made.

Zesty, fruity and classically inviting Sauvignon Blanc aromas. There's firm acidity on the palate contrasting with ripe tropical passion fruit, peach, grapefruit peel and fresh herbs. Balanced and well made but needing some more time to settle.

A really inviting, bright Chardonnay at an excellent price, from vines planted in 2000, 15km from ocean. Forward aromas of peach and pear juice and a yeasty tang continue on the round, concentrated palate, which has a broad nutty mouthfeel, well-integrated gentle oak spicing and a long, creamy finish.

Appealing musky pear-drop aromas lead on to a just-dry palate of juicy tinned peaches and pears. The creamy, quite weighty mouthfeel is nicely balanced by flinty mineral acidity, giving a gentle but succulent wine that would be delicious with roast pork.

Quite a grassy, citrussy style of Sauvignon Blanc, with more of the perky gooseberry and nettle side of the flavour spectrum than overt tropical fruit. There's sharp sherbet lemon acidity running throughout, turning more creamy on the finish. Perfect with a Friday fish supper.

Just veering into an off-dry style, making it a delicious accompaniment to Vietnamese or lighter Thai cuisines. Ripe, sunny orchard fruit and white flower aromas join with candied lemons and slatey minerals on the round palate, balanced by brisk, cleansing acidity.

The 2020 vintage was a great one for Sauvignon Blanc in New Zealand, and Hamish Clark has crafted a lipsmacking one here, from prime blocks in the Dillon's Point subregion near the ocean. Classic aromas of passionfruit, mango and kiwi continue on the tropical palate, which is lifted by a lively seam of tangy gooseberry acidity.

Zesty blackcurrant, passion fruit and pink grapefruit aromas lead to quite a weighty palate of ripe pears, guava and more passion fruit. From one of New Zealand's greenest wineries, grapes for this great-value wine come from a vineyard so close to the ocean they get misted with seaspray.

With the host of great-value Albariños/Alvarinhos available from Spain and Portugal, there's not much cause to look elsewhere, but this is a good New World example. White not overly complex, it has the salinity typical of the variety along with sweet citrus fruit and zingy acidity.

A reliable name for lovers of the classic style of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, and a solid buy particularly when on special. Overt, forward tutti-frutti aromas that continue on the round palate, where good concentration of ripe passion fruit is enlivened by bright acidity.