NZ Sauvignon Blanc

The first year Kevin Judd made his Wild Sauvignon was in 2009 and the winemaking has remained consistent ever since with complexity, creaminess and a full body coming from the 100% barrel fermentation with wild yeasts followed by malolactic fermentation to soften the acidity for two thirds of the wine. It then spends approximately 11 months maturing in barrel and remains in tank for another six months for battonage (the French name for stirring the lees - the decomposing yeast cells left over in the wine).

This is one of our staff favourites at Regional Wines; Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc which is dry, full of flavours of tropical fruit with notes of zingy citrus coupled with tropical fruit and a long finish. 

Whitehaven Wines began life in 1994 as a romantic business for a couple of corporate escapees, Sue and Greg White, who had given up life in the rat race of Auckland for another kind of life aboard their yacht. When sailing around the country, they took shelter in the Marlborough Sounds from Pacific storms and fell in love with the region. An easy thing to do when harbouring in the spectacularly pristine waters of the Sounds. They decided to settle there on terra firma once more and try their hands at wine production, hiring a winemaker and beginning a business which has now been around for 26 years. Greg has sadly passed away now, leaving a legacy as well as his wife and daughter, Sam, to run the winery. Their winemaker is Peter Jackson.

Silver Wing Ceramic Sauvignon ticks lots of boxes from the funky, earthy aroma notes to the fresh bright acidity that gives Sauvignon Blanc its refreshing edgy flavours. And it also ticks the vegan box. 

Winemaker Andrew Fox focusses on low intervention winemaking methods, including no filtration which may result in lees sediment in the wines, which is harmless and looks like small crystals. 

Silver Wing wines are made by Andrew Fox in the Waipara Valley, North Canterbury.  

This Single Vineyard wine is made from grapes grown at Auntsfield Estate. The style is aimed towards texture, complexity and length, balancing the typical Marlborough fruit spectrum and aromatics with richness and mouth feel. The nose shows intense and pure aromas of fresh passionfruit, ripe melon and lime. The palate is powerful, tight and elegant. This wine displays intense ripe fruit flavours of passionfruit and white peach, with citrus notes of lime and mandarin pith.

Hand harvested grapes were whole bunch pressed and treated to a long, slow fermentation followed by nine months of lees aging, which adds weight, texture and interesting savoury flavour notes to this medium bodied, dry Sauvignon Blanc. This wine ticks all the boxes; with its concentrated flavours, dry style, the integrity of 100% hand harvested grapes which are certified organic.

Churton founder and winemaker Sam Weaver cut his teeth on the classic wines of the world while working in fine wine retail in the United Kingdom. His background is in microbiology and he was raised on a farm, so when he and his wife Mandy founded Churton Estate, it combined all of his passions. The couple and their adult sons, have created one of this country's most high quality small wineries, which lives up to the dream of creating 100% estate grown grapes, 100% certified organic production and 100% bottled on site, nearly all of the wines without fining or filtration. All grapes are hand picked and natural yeasts ferment the majority of Churton wines. These incremental qualitative decisions impact at every step of their winemaking provides exceptional quality grapes which in turn express themselves in outstanding wines.

Lovely light bodied Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough's Whitehaven winery, which produces the incredibly good value for money Mansion House Bay range of wines as a little sibling to its main brand. 

This is a light and dry Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand's biggest wine region and its flavours are fresh, crisp and taste of green apple and pear with a lingering finish. This is very good value for money.

Koparepare Sauvignon Blanc represents Marlborough's most popular wine; it's fresh, it's crisp and it's a great match for seafood. Speaking of which, $1 from every bottle of Koparepare wine goes towards LegaSea, a not for profit organisation set up by the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council in 2012 to raise awareness of the marine environment and inspire public support.

The name Koparepare is Maori for gift. 

Whitehaven Wines was founded by Greg and Sue White in 1994 after they sailed into the Marlborough Sounds to shelter from a storm in the early 1990s and fell for the natural beauty of the region and the haven it provided. So they decided to take the next natural step - set up a winery back on dry land, naming it, naturally enough, Whitehaven.

Fruit forward but dry and fresh with a light body, intense flavours and far too much drinkability for its own good. 

Organic certification

The organic story at Seresin

One of the greatest things about Seresin Estate is the organic certification. This came relatively early on for Seresin, who was dismayed by the amount used and the impacts of man made chemicals, which were routinely and frequently sprayed on vines. His early adopting philosophy of organic certification paved a positive path for the integrity of the wines as well as leading others to follow suit.

Fleshy, complex, creamy and full bodied, this organically certified Sauvignon Blanc is an outstanding take on the popular theme, throwing Sauvignon in a refreshing new, smooth, soft and citrusy light. 

The organic story at Seresin

One of the greatest things about Seresin Estate is the organic certification. This came relatively early on for Seresin, who was dismayed by the amount used and the impacts of man made chemicals, which were routinely and frequently sprayed on vines. His early adopting philosophy of organic certification paved a positive path for the integrity of the wines as well as leading others to follow suit.

Great classic Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc with freshness and tropical fruit aromas tempered by a nervy backbone of bright acidity that runs through each vibrant, summery sip of this fruit forward wine. Complex notes come through in a creamy mid palate, which is an expression of lees contact post fermentation in stainless steel tanks. This adds richness and breadth to the wine as well as length of flavour.

Forrest Estate Sauvignon Blanc is made from a blend of grapes grown on four vineyards located around Renwick in the Wairau River Valley. Whilst all
have their own characteristics, they share in common the Wairau plains, gravel rich, free draining and devigourating soil profile. This classical Marlborough terroir is critical in achieving the smaller berries and lower cropping levels needed to produce premium Sauvignon Blanc.