The Long Lane vineyards are on the north bank of the Awatere river, in the lower Awatere valley. Our fruit comes from two blocks from Long Lane: Orchard and River. Orchard is on the broad main terrace of the valley, and River is on a small, low river terrace. Although Marlborough is a relatively young wine region, people have always appreciated the benefit of growing fruit here. As can be guessed from its name, Orchard block was once a cherry orchard.

Orchard block is characterised by gently undulating, well drained, shallow silt loam from stony greywacke alluvium of the high river terraces. The sauvignon blanc from this block has gooseberry and nettle characters. Orchard block was one of the first blocks for our Awatere Valley Sauvignon Blanc.

The vines at River block are grown on gently undulating, well drained, moderately deep sandy loam of greywacke alluvium. It is extremely gravelly. There is a varied soil depth across the block, from free draining gravels to deeper fertile loam. River block is largely a free-draining, stony loam riverbed terrace, and it produces jalapeño and blackcurrant leaf characters in sauvignon blanc.