Gooseberries. For years they seemed like the unicorn. Often written about and discussed, but never seen or even proven to exist.

Gooseberries come up in nearly every description of sauvignon blanc. But who ever tasted a gooseberry? On a recent visit to New Zealand, we spied gooseberries in the produce aisle of a supermarket. We bought them and learned the truth about this much-abused descriptor.

It turns out gooseberries are the size of table grapes, with stripes of lighter shaded skin. They are sour, acidic, not unlike, well Š a typical New Zealand sauvignon blanc. Or at least what we thought was a typical New Zealand sauvignon blanc before we traveled there.

In our visit to Marlborough, a South Island wine region where sauvignon blanc reigns, winery after winery distinguished its stuff from the gooseberry prototype. This was just one of the many revelations from our visit to one of the premiere wine-producing countries of the new world. From south to north, here's a taste of New Zealand.

Pinot to die for

In California and Burgundy, where pinot noir grows, so does chardonnay. In the dramatic landscape of Central Otago, on New Zealand's south island, pinot noir rules while chardonnay fails to flourish.

That's OK, though, because the pinot is unbelievably fruity, concentrated and delicious, an ambrosia that is well-made by virtually all who try in the high-desert conditions of Central Otago.

The town of Bannockburn -- an hour down the mountain from New Zealand's outdoor adventure capital, Queenstown -- has a cluster of tasting rooms in close proximity.

You could not throw a sheep-shaped key chain from a gift shop in this region without hitting a killer pinot. One of our favorites was a tiny producer, Bald Hills, where proprietress Estelle Hunt's tasting area was actually a corner of her living room. Hunt said the pinot in the region is defined by its spiciness, and that it is more savory than pinot from elsewhere.

"Pinot is about complexity and aromas of forest floor," she said.

We swooned over gamey pinots with abundant dark cherry fruit. Many were high-alcohol wines that managed not to taste hot, making us think that as cabernet sauvignon is to Napa Valley -- almost defiantly huge and robust -- pinot noir is to Central Otago.

More pinot specialists line the lovely road through the Gibbston Valley, on the way to Queenstown. Some of these wineries -- Chard Farm and Peregrine were favorites -- source fruit from the region below, but also grow pinot at the foot of the steep, craggy hills that descend to the dramatic Kawarau Gorge.

The pinot from Gibbston has an earthy element and drinks less like the liquid candy from below. For a good example of this, look out for Waitiri Creek wines, which the "cellar door" server called "distinctly more savory," with black currant and cherry flavors laced with thyme.

Not every winery in Central Otago is outstanding. At oft-photographed Rippon Vineyard, set in a spectacular landscape on the edge of Lake Wanaka, the views were far more memorable than the wines.

North and east of Central Otago, along the South Island's comparatively gentle Pacific Coast, the Waipara region (not to be confused with the North Island's Wairarapa, these Maori names can tie you up) hosts a small collection of vineyards and wineries. The area is an hour north of Christchurch, New Zealand's second-biggest city.

One top producer in Waipara is Daniel Schuster Wines, which makes a pinot with less focus on fruit and power, and more on finesse and texture.

The sunniest wine region

Marlborough, the sunniest region in New Zealand, has a cluster of more than 30 wineries on flat country roads, and offers the most accommodating experience in New Zealand for wine tourists. The big town is modest Blenheim, which sits in a coastal plain that opens to a lengthy valley, and all the nearby cellar doors are within an easy drive.

Most tasting rooms are in buildings of modern or European-influenced architecture, often attached to a smallish restaurant, where friendly staffers pour sauvignon blanc and a fair amount of surprisingly good local pinot.

Two stand-out wineries, Cloudy Bay and Allan Scott, are across from each other on Jackson Road, anointed by one wine writer as the "Silverado Trail" of Marlborough.

Allan Scott's sauvignon blancs are perhaps typical of the region's best. Fruity and tropical with zesty acidity, they are more full-bodied than most sauvignon blancs, but not so much as to mask the essence of the variety. Other winners include Huia, Nautilus and Spy Valley.

Not that we know anyone who did it, nor would we recommend it, but it is possible to visit a dozen tasting rooms in a single day (some open at 9:30 a.m.) without risking life or limb and still make it into Blenheim for a movie and a contest to see who has enough strength to lift the wood-bound wine list off the table at Bacchus restaurant.

Mystery grape

Martinborough is close in name to Marlborough, and is similar in that most of the region's 20-some tasting rooms are packed close together on an easily navigable valley floor. But Martinborough, the Wairarapa region and the North Island in general gets hotter than the more temperate South Island, and a wider variety of grapes -- red and white -- are successfully are grown here.

Several of the wineries near Martinborough are funky and cozy, resulting both in more intimate tasting experiences and more chancy wines in the glass.

At Vynfields, the proprietor promised a mystery grape he said had been studied in the lab and declared not to be any of the reds known to be produced in the world today. Called the "Mad Rooster," it made for a great story and a pleasant if unspectacular wine, though a veteran winemaker from another region told us later that it is, in fact, petite sirah. Without our own chemistry lab and having flunked out of fruit genetics class, we form no opinion of our own.

Waiheke Island

Auckland is New Zealand's biggest city, and the teeming center of commerce is only 45 minutes from a unique wine region, an island in Huaraki Gulf known for being the country's best locale for traditional Bordeaux reds. Waiheke Island is a quick ferry ride from Auckland, and what isn't covered by sandy tidal inlets and coastal cliffs is swathed in vines. While the island has dozens of vineyards, it has only a half-dozen or so tasting rooms.

At Te Motu Vineyard, manager Paul Dunleavy told us of the generosity of Robert Mondavi during his own family's visits to the states, and poured us some interesting reds. Across a pasture was neighboring Stonyridge Winery, which had a bustling restaurant and an excellent proprietary red -- Larose. Whether it or other Waiheke reds compare with Napa's finest is a matter of taste and the vintners' intent, but we found New Zealand's Bordeaux wines generally less transcendent than the Central Otago pinots or Marlborough sauvignon blancs.

The boulder eater

Hawkes Bay is perhaps the best-known of the North Island's wine regions.

While here we actually took a guided winery tour -- and though we weren't sure what we would learn among the other tourists in our umpteenth barrel room -- we found the tour guide to be uniquely knowledgeable and genuine.

Determining that he was the proprietor of Te Mata Estate and in great part responsible for the country's most reputable Bordeaux blend, Coleraine, we hornswaggled John Buck into sharing with us some pinot noir we'd brought from Carneros. He expounded upon the importation strategies of New Zealand wineries -- geared largely toward the UK, but increasingly toward Asia -- and otherwise proved to be an engaging fellow with a top-notch winery.

Just down the road is Craggy Range, a lovely establishment with commendable wines of many types, a cozy restaurant and a tasting room with full-length windows looking out at the grassy slopes to Te Mata Peak.

The Cliff's Notes version of a local Maori legend has it that the powerful tribal leader Te Mata fell for a local gal who was unsure of his intentions and suitability, so she put him to several tests -- the last of which was to eat his way through the mountain for her. He tried, but choked on a boulder.

He should have thought to wash it down with some of the local stuff.

We did not repeat his mistake, tasting our way across some of the many other wineries sprinkled around Hawkes Bay. Clearview Estate makes a big, California-style chardonnay that it serves in its busy restaurant with views of the ocean, while Brookfields featured one of New Zealand's few memorable cabernet blends.

New Zealand has other wine regions we did not explore, though we covered thousands of kilometers in a short time and visited everything from biodynamic small-timers to large producers such as the impressive Villa Maria.

All in all, the landscape was spectacular, the traveling easy, the people friendly, and we tasted several superb wines. As for the gooseberries, caveat emptor.