Winemaker Notes
Pairs perfectly with seafood and salads and tomato, lemon and vinaigrette dressings.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Nicely integrated barrel-fermented style with aromas of pastry and dried flowers. Fruits are in the papaya and citron zone. Nice textural depth. Drink now. Screw cap.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A rocking example of the barrel-fermented style that is opening eyes in Marlborough and beyond, the 2015 Envoy Sauvignon Blanc Johnson Vineyard was made and remained in seasoned oak for up to ten months. It's got a patina of pencil shavings as a result, some faintly herbal notes and a core of white grapefruit that drives through the lengthy finish.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2015 Spy Valley Envoy Sauvignon Blanc is complex and nicely developed. TASTING NOTES: This wine offers excellent development that a few years in the bottle can bring. Its aromas and flavors of intense grapefruit should pair it beautifully with a plate of raw oysters. (Tasted: September 18, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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Decanter
Floral, pineapple and confit lemon aromas. Pure, precise, incredibly youthful style for 2015 vintage with fine texture and weight on the palate.
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.