“Marlborough owns Sauvignon Blanc.” Dominic Pecchenino

The perfect place for Sauvignon

Marlborough’s long, hot and dry summer days, combined with cool nights, help produce the crisp, clean and unique Sauvignon Blanc the world has fallen in love with.

The variety is the star of today and the star of the future, says viticulturist and wine research stalwart Dominic Pecchenino, who moved to Marlborough from the US in the early 1990s.  “Marlborough owns Sauvignon Blanc – we own the style, no one else can do it.” There is no “secret clone”, he says. “The fruit develops at a time when the weather conditions are perfect.”

Marlborough’s consistent climate and fantastic variety of soils produce the distinctive Sauvignon Blanc the world identifies with and clamours for, says Dominic. From a growing perspective, Marlborough is ideal because of its cool climate – while we may think we get hot summers, they are not hot compared to California or Australia, he says “What we have is a long maturation period – we never really get too hot and we have those cooler nights that retain the flavours.”

Marlborough is lucky to be able to carry those delicious fruity and herbaceous flavours from the vineyard right through to the winery, producing that vibrant and dependable Sauvignon the world loves, Dominic says. “The soils are variable because of the way the Wairau River laid them down, so you can get different flavour profiles and ripeness in the same grape row, which means the blending is done in the vineyard.”

During vintage this year, Dominic walked behind the harvester, smelling the distinctive and unique aroma of Sauvignon Blanc as it was coming off the vines. “You just know you are going to make a great wine when the flavours are like that at harvest – that’s what we do here, we grow flavours and that’s why our style of Sauvignon Blanc is so unique.”

From inauspicious beginnings in the 1970s, when the first vines planted wilted and died in Marlborough’s legendary nor’west winds, Sauvignon Blanc today thrives in those same conditions. Viticulturists and growers have come to understand and respect the variety and it has cemented its place in Marlborough. 

Hot days provide perfect ripening conditions to get sugar (brix) levels right while the cool nights retain the acidity Sauvignon Blanc is so well known for.  Marlborough has proven to have the perfect climate, with low rainfall over the critical summer growing months and plenty of sunshine. 

Combine that with a wide range of soil types, including clay, gravel, alluvial and stony, and you get the variation that allows so many different expressions of fruit parcels from gooseberry, citrus and passionfruit through to grassy and fresh herb flavours.

While Sauvignon Blanc is grown and produced in many countries and different geographical locations around the world, no one produces it with the pungency Marlborough does.

As Master of Wine Bob Campbell says: “A lot of countries produce Sauvignon Blanc, but none has the purity, pungency and herbal tropical fruit that Marlborough turns out with consummate ease. It’s a pungently fruity wine that jumps up your nostrils.”

Instantly recognisable as soon as it is poured, Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc has changed the way the world drinks. Share your uniquely Marlborough stories using #sauvblancday #winemarlborough and #nzwine and check out www.sauvblancday.nz

This article was first published in April 2, 2020