An academic who is part of a NZ$1.6 million research project to investigate the aromas of New Zealand's premier wine variety, sauvignon blanc, says it may lead to new styles of the wine for different markets, reports www.stuff.co.nz.

"The programme is also intended to have practical outcomes that allow winemakers to produce better quality wine, consistent styles between years, sauvignon blanc wines that hold their aroma for longer," said Prof. Richard Gardner, of Auckland University's School of Biological Sciences.

Prof. Gardner said practical outcomes from the research might include new technologies for analysing grape juice; recommendations for vineyard management, juice handling, wine storage; and new yeast strains.

The wine with a whiff of "cat's pee on a gooseberry bush" has driven the export success of the nation's wine industry, with over 80% of it coming from Marlborough where plantings of just 144ha of the variety in 1989 soared to 4,000ha in a decade.

The pungent wine divides drinkers and critics but its unique racy character has won a legion of fans in Britain and more recently the United States.

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