Nelson Sauvin

According to NZ Hops, Nelson Sauvin™ comes from the breeding programme of the New Zealand research institute Plant & Food Research. That institute worked on it with the growers' cooperative NZ Hops; on 1 July 2025 it merged into the Bioeconomy Science Institute, which continues the breeding work with NZ Hops. According to the breeder, it is a cross of the New Zealand hop variety Smoothcone with a selected New Zealand male plant. The breeding number is 85-03-06.

The variety is triploid: it has three sets of chromosomes instead of the usual two. Such plants set little seed. Researchers at Plant & Food Research established the triploidy of Nelson Sauvin by measurement.

According to NZ Hops, the name comes from the aroma: freshly crushed gooseberries, a description often used for the sauvignon blanc grape. NZ Hops grows its hops in the Nelson region, at the top of the South Island.

According to the breeder, Nelson Sauvin gives beer a pronounced white-wine character: white grape, gooseberry, citrus and passion fruit. NZ Hops also warns that this fruitiness can be somewhat overwhelming if you are not used to it. Researchers at the Japanese brewery Sapporo described the effect in beer as exotic fruit and white wine.

Where does that come from? The same researchers noticed in 2009 that a product made with Nelson Sauvin lost its typical aroma after contact with copper. Copper captures thiols, fruity-smelling sulfur compounds. They found two new thiols, 3S4MP and 3S4MPA, which smell of grapefruit and rhubarb, comparable to sauvignon blanc. In the beers studied, 3S4MP was at about twice the odour threshold and strengthened the aroma of 3S4MPA. Belgian research later called 3S4MP a good marker compound for beer made with Nelson Sauvin, together with 4MMP, another well-known hop thiol.

3S4MP is not unique: the compound has also been found in the hop varieties Tomahawk and Hallertau Blanc, among others. Researchers do call Nelson Sauvin a thiol-rich variety. According to the BJCP, the aroma of New Zealand hops in a pilsner often recalls New Zealand sauvignon blanc, with tropical fruit, grass, melon and lime.

According to the breeder, Nelson Sauvin is a dual-purpose hop: it can bitter and give aroma. In Belgian research from 2011 it is even called a bittering variety. The breeder recommends using it judiciously, from robust ales to subtle lagers where the aroma comes first, and mentions pale ale and IPA as styles where it belongs.

Forms: - whole cones and pellets, ordinary or organic; - Cryo Hops®: pellets of concentrated lupulin, offered in cooperation with Yakima Chief Hops.

According to the variety sheet, 40–60% of the oil is myrcene. There is 1.2–2 ml of oil in 100 grams of hops; in the 2026 harvest, NZ Hops measured 0.9–1.9 ml.

Related hops: the BJCP names Nelson Sauvin, together with Motueka and Riwaka, as examples of New Zealand hops for the New Zealand pilsner. Each of those three does have its own character.

NZ Hops has supported a breeding programme since the 1950s. In 1972, according to NZ Hops, New Zealand was the first country to grow triploid hops commercially, because brewers wanted seedless hops. Nelson Sauvin comes from that tradition. According to the variety sheet, it was crossed in 1985, selected as a seedling in 1987, trialled between 1988 and 1995 and released in 2000. The breeder, looking back, calls it 'wildly experimental' for its time.

A predecessor of Plant & Food Research was HortResearch; since 1 July 2025 the Bioeconomy Science Institute has been the breeding partner of NZ Hops. In 2026, Nelson Sauvin was the second-largest harvested variety at NZ Hops, after Nectaron.

A good starting point: look for a pilsner or pale ale in which Nelson Sauvin is the main hop. Smell first. Think of white grape, gooseberry and grapefruit, sometimes with passion fruit. If you recognise something of a glass of sauvignon blanc, you are on the right track. According to the BJCP, a New Zealand pilsner is clear and dry, with a neutral to bready malt base, and the hops stand out most in it. Hop aroma fades: drink such a beer fresh.