The land

Marlborough sits at the northeast tip of New Zealand’s South Island, on the Wairau and Awatere river plains. The climate is cool maritime, with intense sunlight, large diurnal temperature swings, and free-draining alluvial gravels. The conditions are ideal for cool-climate aromatic whites — particularly Sauvignon Blanc, which here develops an intensity of thiol-driven tropical fruit (passionfruit, guava, grapefruit) and pyrazine-driven herbaceous character (capsicum, cut grass) that nothing else in the world quite matches.

The Sauvignon Blanc revolution

Modern Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc was effectively invented in the 1980s and 1990s. The Cloudy Bay 1985 vintage became an international sensation, and over the next two decades Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc grew from nothing into the most-exported wine category in New Zealand. The style — exuberantly fruity, bone-dry, screwcap-sealed — has been widely imitated but never quite replicated outside the region.

Beyond Sauvignon

Pinot Noir is the second great Marlborough grape, particularly from the cooler southern Awatere Valley and the higher-elevation sites. Chardonnay can be serious. Riesling has been gaining recognition. Sparkling wine (traditional method) is taken seriously by a handful of producers. The region also makes some surprisingly age-worthy Sauvignon — Cloudy Bay Te Koko (oak-fermented and aged Sauvignon) and Dog Point Section 94 are the references.

Vintages to know

2022 — outstanding. 2020 — exceptional. 2018 — superb. For Sauvignon Blanc, vintage matters less than freshness — drink the most recent.

Producers we know

Cloudy Bay (the originator), Greywacke (Kevin Judd’s project after leaving Cloudy Bay), Dog Point, Saint Clair, Villa Maria, Felton Road (technically Central Otago but worth mentioning), Wither Hills.