Winemaker Notes
Pale straw with green highlights. Focused aromas of jalapeño, nettle, lime zest, lemongrass and fresh herbs. A linear, pure wine with clean flavors of currants, gooseberry and citrus. Finishes savory, crisp and dry.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2025 Awatere Valley Sauvignon Blanc is herbal and grassy, with crushed shells, coriander leaves, lemon zest and brine. In the mouth, the wine is spicy, loaded with flavor and distinctly Awatere in character. This is an excellent wine. 13% alcohol.
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James Suckling
Vivid and succulent, with a nose of lemons, fresh pears and some crushed stones. Medium-bodied with bright acidity and character. Zesty and textured, with a persistent finish. Sustainable. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
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Australian Wine Companion
A very expressive wine that shows off the spice, herbs and tropical notes of the variety. Winter melon, kiwifruit and yellow guava meet with thistle, shiso mint and cucumber melon. There are pops of Thai basil herbs and some fleshy peach in the mid-palate. A wine with lots of detail throughout.
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Wine Spectator
Vibrant and aromatic, with detailed notes of toasted green tea, tarragon, lemon sage and lemon verbena to complement the core of Asian pear, citrus and celery seed on a smooth, fresh frame. The acidity makes the flavors pop on the finish, which shows a hint of herbal salt.
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Wine Enthusiast
The region’s typical passionfruitlime-floral-grass-pepper combo are out in full force, but in a delicate, crowd-pleasing way. There’s a hint of residual sugar which tempers the acidity rather than adding much sweetness. It’s a straightforward but harmonious and inviting bottling that’s a solid example of this famed wine style.
Capable of a vast array of styles, Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, refreshing variety that equally reflects both terroir and varietal character. Though it can vary depending on where it is grown, a couple of commonalities always exist—namely, zesty acidity and intense aromatics. This variety is of French provenance. Somm Secret—Along with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. That green bell pepper aroma that all three varieties share is no coincidence—it comes from a high concentration of pyrazines (herbaceous aromatic compounds) inherent to each member of the family.
An icon and leading region of New Zealand's distinctive style of Sauvignon blanc, Marlborough has a unique terroir, making it ideal for high quality grape production (of many varieties). Despite some common generalizations, which could be fairly justified given that Marlborough is responsible for 90% of New Zealand's Sauvignon blanc production, the wines from this region are actually anything but homogenous. At the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, the vineyards of Marlborough benefit from well-draining, stony soils, a dry, sunny climate and wide temperature fluctuations between day and night, a phenomenon that supports a perfect balance between berry ripeness and acidity.
The region’s king variety, Sauvignon blanc, is beloved for its pungent, aromatic character with notes of exotic tropical fruit, freshly cut grass and green bell pepper along with a refreshing streak of stony minerality. These wines are made in a wide range of styles, and winemakers take advantage of various clones, vineyard sites, fermentation styles, lees-stirring and aging regimens to differentiate their bottlings, one from one another.
Also produced successfully here are fruit-forward Pinot noirs (especially where soils are clay-rich), elegant Riesling, Pinot gris and Gewürztraminer.