During a Royal Gazette photo shoot at Bolero Brasserie on Front Street on an extremely wet afternoon, there was an excited murmur from a tourist couple looking on, and whispers of “is it him?” and “no, it can’t be”.The “celebrity” being photographed was not a movie star or pop singer, but the representative of the New Zealand Wairau River Winery, Dave Kenny. (Wairau rhymes with eyebrow).After the photo shoot Mr Kenny greeted the couple.“Oh, we just love your wine,” they gushed. “We order it all the time.”The exchange was a small indication of the world’s growing love affair with New Zealand wines, particularly sauvignon blanc.Mr Kenny, export director for Wairau River Wines, and Matt Parker vice president of international sales for Terlato Wines International were in Bermuda, promoting their wine at Gosling’s.Terlato, based in the United States, sells Wairau River Wines, as well as a number of other family-owned brands including Sanford Winery in the Santa Rita Hills, California, Two Hands in South Australia and Chimney Rock in Napa Valley, California.The Royal Gazette met Mr Kenny and Mr Parker over wine and a delicious, complimentary lunch at Bolero.“New Zealand wine is doing phenomenally and sauvignon blanc is leading the category,” said Mr Kenny. “We were at a prestigious social club the other day. The house wine there was free of charge.“But we saw three ladies walk in and ask for a New Zealand sauvignon blanc. The bartender said, ‘Well, that’s $10 a glass, it’s not free’. The ladies said, ‘No problem’.”He said the world is in love with Sauvignon Blanc at the moment, and Bermuda is no exception.“One of my favourite markets to come to is Bermuda,” said Mr Parker. “There are a lot of people here who understand wine that aren’t afraid to spend a little extra.“Bermuda is a great market and strategically important for us. It is a market that can grow a brand from nothing in pretty quick time.”While in Bermuda the pair did a wine tasting with 20 key restaurateurs, who were reportedly very excited.“It was terrific,” said Mr Parker. “This is one of our more progressive markets. The population you have here is wine-savvy. They understand good wine and appreciate it.”Mr Kenny said Wairau River Wine is situated on the Wairau River in Marlborough Valley, located in the northeast corner of the South Island of New Zealand.“We have a protected microclimate that we are in and it is very conducive to making sauvignon blanc and pinot noir,” said Mr Kenny. “The advantage is that we have beautiful hot days, but very cool nights.“We can’t ripen grapes such as shiraz or cabernet but it is very good for grapes like sauvignon blanc and pinot.”The winery’s founder, Phil Rose, is considered a pioneer winemaker in the region.The first grapes were planted in Marlborough in 1973; Mr Rose started his winery five years later.Before that he was growing cherries, and to this day some people say that a hint of cherries infuses the wine.He recently won the Marlborough Lifetime Achievement Award for helping to establish the industry there.He had to overcome over 70 objections from traditional farmers who didn’t want vineyards in Marlborough.Now there are many wineries and the industry brings a great deal of money to the community.“We are near the sea, but we are not landlocked,” said Mr Kenny. “We do a lot of fishing and hunting. We are very lucky in that we have our own vineyards so we don’t contract any fruit.“We have our own harvesters and our own state of the art winery built in 2002. We do our own bottling, so we control everything from the vine to the bottle.“Marlborough wines have grown a reputation for their zesty citrus flavours.“The climate conditions and nearby river make for quite a soft sauvignon blanc, not big and bracing; the acidity is quite soft.“It can be paired with so many things seafood, scallops, any sort of slightly more oily fish because it does have a degree of acidity that can cut through that.”