Winemaker Notes
Great as an aperitif or with food.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 The Reserve Collection Hillside Sauvignon Blanc is mineral and tightly coiled, textural and chalky. The wine has magnificent phenolic presence, which is perhaps why I like it so much. This has excellent stride and stretch through the palate. The growing environment exposes the grapes to a harsh southerly wind, which thickens the skins and increases the phenolic content. It's superb.
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Vinous
The 2023 Sauvignon Blanc The Reserve Collection Hillside, is taken from a single vineyard and carefully made – hand-picked and whole-bunch pressed to preserve the clarity and delicacy of the fruit. Fermented in stainless steel, its Awatere Valley character shines through with its green fruit, silvery minerality and lemon citrus characters. You can expect intense fruit concentration and a supple, full palate. Firm but balanced acidity draws this wine together to produce a dry, structured white. It is filled with personality and persistence and laced with fine sinew.
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Wine Spectator
Passion fruit, peach and mango flavors are juicy and plump, with ginger, dried pineapple and lemony notes on a sleek and juicy frame. Drink now. 550 cases made, 100 cases imported.
Nestled in the heart of Marlborough in the South Island of New Zealand, TE PA FAMILY VINEYARDS is not just a testament to the region's rich viticultural potential—it is a living tribute to a legacy that dates back 800 years. Owned by Haysley MacDonald, te Pa is more than a winery; it's a continuation of a familial saga that began with the earliest Maori settlers in the Wairau Bar. Haysley's ancestry imbues te Pa with a profound sense of place and history that is reflected in each selection of the winery's portfolio.
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.