Winemaker Notes
Section 94 is widely regarded as the most distinctive and greatest Sauvignon Blanc made in New Zealand today. James Healy and Ivan Sutherland were among the first to begin fermenting their Sauvignon in barrel with wild yeasts, a technique that along with the old vines from which they source, leads to a full-bodied wine that is less fruit-forward, more exotic, with immense textural complexity.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Layers of crushed stones, smoked almonds, green apples, lemon pith, white pepper, licorice and oyster shells. It's so powerful and concentrated. Tightly wound and phenolic with a medium body and sharp acidity. Intense, and just keeps going. Always a sophisticated and complex sauvignon blanc. From organically grown grapes.
-
Wine Spectator
Stunning, with a complex, aromatic mix of beeswax, litsea oil, vetiver and honeysuckle notes up front, followed by ripe peach, melon and lemon curd flavors at the juicy core. Reveals whiffs of grilled lemon and smoke that swirl around the flavors, as well as a hint of crushed rock minerality on a supple, seamless frame. Gains momentum on the epic finish. Drink now.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Section 94 is today five years from its harvest, and it shows a preponderance of yellow fruits, exotic spices, layers of cloves, star anise and fennel, with white cloth and beeswax. It's a powerful, tightly coiled wine of great length and complexity. These evolve favorably in the future, so drinking the estate Sauvignon Blanc in its youth is recommended, while you allow this to age and settle. This is a very impressive wine. 14% alcohol.
-
Wine Enthusiast
From one of Marlborough’s most distinctive producers, this single site Sauvignon Blanc is aged and fermented in older French oak barrels in the Pouilly-Fumé style. The resulting wine is golden hued with opulent aromas of roasted nuts, grilled pineapple, lemon oil and gun smoke. The palate is equally rich but restrained, countered by mouthwatering acidity, with focus and flavor depth that lingers long on the finish. It’s a Sauvignon made like a Chardonnay, so it won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but this bottling, from a strong vintage, finds great balance and could cellar for several years.
-
Wine & Spirits
From a block at the estate planted in 1992, this wine develops its leesy richness over the course of 18 months in neutral French oak barrels. It’s tense and tightly built around floral apricot and buttery white peach, a ripe, rich, ambitious wine that meets its goals, and warrants cellar time.
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.