SUB-REGIONS
Wairau Valley Sauvignon Blanc is gently pungent, with riper tropical fruit & citrus notes, plus a touch of blackcurrant leaf, Southern Valleys Sauvignon Blanc is marked by greater weight & texture but still with a tropical-citrus nuance while Awatere Valley produces a more immediate, grassy, nettley, 'tomato stalk' spectrum of Sauvignon Blanc. Kekerengu, a tiny limestone up-&-coming sub-region, is south of Awatere. (overview)
CLIMATE
Marlborough regularly vies with Nelson as NZ's sunniest
region. Bright 'cool-climate' conditions give grapes the advantage of long, slow, flavour-intensifying ripening. Average daily summer temperature often 24°C but clear, cool nights keep grape acid levels high. These marked diurnal temperature variations ensure fresh, vibrant fruit with crisp, herbaceous characters.
SOILS
Within the region, viticulture has been developed primarily on sites with moderate to low fertility & a noticeably stony, sandy loam top soil overlying deep layers of free-draining gravels. These shallow, well-drained soils
help to produce a lush, aromatic ripe wine, due to reduced vine vigour. Where a more herbaceous style is desired, sites with greater water-retentive soils & moderate fertility are chosen.
Sauvignon Blanc - a critical balance
Sauvignon Blanc has two distinct flavour components: grassy/green capsicum characters & riper passion fruit/citrus characters. The balance between them is critical: too herbaceous & the wine can taste unripe while overtly fruity wines can taste too sweet.
Warmer regions tend to produce one-dimensional Sauvignon Blanc, without the zing that brings them to life, whereas Marlborough manages to combine both components in a style that other regions have found difficult to emulate.
Oz Clarke's 'Wine Atlas': No previous wine had shocked, thrilled or entranced the world before, with such brash, unexpected flavours of gooseberry, passionfruit, lime, or crunchy green asparagus spears - an entirely new, brilliantly successful wine style had appeared that the rest of the world has been attempting to copy ever since
Marlborough - not just Sauvignon Blanc: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Gewürztraminer & Pinot Gris all perform well in Marlborough, with Bordeaux varietals & Syrah also planted. Marlborough is NZ's main producer of sparkling wine with larger winegrowers developing alliances with major French Champagne houses.
