Winemaker Notes
#33 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2025
Pale straw with a hint of green and gold. This wine has lifted aromas of mandarin zest, quince, yellow peach, sweet basil, gooseberry, white pepper and distinct wet stone minerality, with structured herbal notes. The palate is elegant, with juicy mandarin, earthy cumin, sweet basil and ripe yellow star fruit (carambola). Layered and textured, the wine is clean and fresh with flavors of ripe pineapple and a mild tannin note sitting over a layer of umami.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Once again, this unique wine—which uses green-tea tannin extract in place of SO2 as an antimicrobial and preservative—is entirely it's own thing. A bright golden color, it's like running through a later summertime orchard, the fruit hanging heavy on the trees, the smell of hay and oats and sunshine. It's round and slippery on the palate, a generous texture with just enough acidity to keep things flowing and not feel shrill. This reviewer finds it delightfully different.
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Wine Spectator
Stylish, with fragrant notes of lemon balm, basil and toasted green tea to complement the core of yuzu, pomelo and marmalade. The acidity is sleek and mouthwatering, with details of white pepper and candied ginger lingering on the finish.
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James Suckling
Aromas of yellow apples, passion fruit, chamomile tea and fresh pineapple. The palate is medium-bodied with balanced acidity. Fresh and textural with a nice density. No sulfur added.
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.