Winemaker Notes
Pairs well with summer salads, poultry and all seafood, especially green-lipped mussels.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
One of world's top Sauvignon Blancs, the 2015 Astrolabe Province is fresh, light and food friendly. Yes, this is one of my favorites with simple seafoods and conversations with good friends. Light to medium straw in color; active aromas of grapefruit peel and other ripe citrus notes, excellent depth; medium bodied, zesty on the palate; bright flavors, ripe citrus abounding; medium finish, richly textured in the aftertaste. (Tasted: May 6, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
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Tasting Panel
Intense cat and grapefruit nose; grass and sweet herbs; juicy and tangy with citrus and gooseberry; long and aggressive.
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Wine Enthusiast
If this lacks the exotic richness and drama of the very best Marlborough Sauvignons, it's still a tasty drop. Fig and melon notes suggest ample ripeness, while hints of leafy greens provide hallmark varietal character, finishing crisp and clean. In golf terms, it's straight and true, down the middle of the fairway.
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Wine Spectator
Crisp lime, grapefruit, passion fruit and lemongrass flavors are accented by fresh ginger notes. Smooth and succulent, especially on the finish.
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.