Winemaker Notes
The philosophy of Oyster Bay is to produce fine, distinctively regional wines that are elegant and assertive with glorious fruit flavors. Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc is the wine that started it all. Which happened to win the best Sauvignon Blanc in the world. Its brilliant clarity, extraordinary aromatic flavors and refreshing zest are both thrilling and enthralling. Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc features enticing citrus notes and tropical flavors – youthful, elegant, and fresh with a lingering, zesty finish.
Oyster Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is ideal as an aperitif or perfectly matched with raw and grilled seafood such as salmon and tuna, calamari, crab cakes, Cajun and spicy dishes, and fresh Asian flavors.
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesA perfumed white with lots of gooseberry, fresh fennel and passion-fruit flavors, as well as some sage and mint undertones. Light-bodied and tangy with crisp acidity and a refreshing finish.
Blessed with the natural advantages of New Zealand’s maritime cool climate and ancient alluvial soils, Oyster Bay continues to capture the essence of New Zealand’s cool climate viticulture with our world-class range of elegant and assertive wines with glorious fruit flavors. Oyster Bay vines flourish in Marlborough, one of New Zealand’s most renowned wine regions. Oyster Bay’s state-of-the-art, winemaking facilities, have been carefully designed to preserve the intense varietal flavors which come from these unique sites.
Oyster Bay is a passion. It’s a vision. And ultimately, it’s a promise- to bring the very best of New Zealand wine to the world.
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.
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.