Marlborough Sauvignon blanc is one of the most recognisable wines of the world, but as wine drinkers around the world discover and fall in love with these wines, further curiosity is naturally rewarded by the breadth and depth of sub-regional variety within Marlborough. In our largest and most northern valley, the Wairau, there are many tributary valleys which flow from the clay-rich Wither hills down into the silty riverbeds of the valley floor. These valleys are collectively known as the Southern Valleys. From west to east: the Waihopai, Omaka, Brancott, Ben Morvern and Taylor Pass. The soils are predominantly clay, though there are siltier soils in the Waihopai, where this vineyard is situated.

Our Sauvignon blanc at Astrolabe is primarily from more southern sites like the Awatere Valley or Kēkerengū on Marlborough's Southern Coast, but Southern Valleys fruit has always been an essential part of our flagship Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. I have often wondered if some of these parcels might be more suitable to oak treatment rather than stainless steel. 2024 was our first vintage in the new Astrolabe Small Town Winery, so the timing seemed right to experiment a little with a small batch from the Southern Valleys. Because the story for this wine is so connected with my new winery, I felt it appropriate to give a small reference on the side of the label.

The Waihopai is our warmest valley, the furthest from the sea. It is often some of our first fruit to harvest and comes in with golden, ripe flavours ranging from tropical to stone fruit to ripe citrus. When I taste grapes from the vine at harvest time, the fruit concentration and weight are apparent even before fermentation and oak maturation. Sometimes a subregional style requires particular winemaking to complement the inherent fruit characters. Fresher, more lifted Sauvignon blanc from the Awatere valley is best made in stainless steel. The Southern Valleys generally produce wines with great mouthfeel and persistence, which lends itself well to more winemaking intensive processes that build palate weight and richness, like extended maturation on lees in oak. 

This is a single vineyard wine, and like my other single vineyard Sauvignon blanc, the Taihoa Sauvignon Blanc, it is made with the use of whole cluster pressing of hand-picked fruit, exclusively cuvée juice, fermentation on solids and oak maturation. This is more about textural elements and fermentation complexity rather than lifted thiol or methoxypyrazine expressions. We’re looking for a tuned-back style, a restrained style. Its oldish oak. We’re trying not to emphasise wood flavour so much as the maturation in oak vessels. It’s about texture, mouthfeel, minerality. It’s a wine made for cellaring and aging.