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Auntsfield

According to general manager Ben Cowley, who is responsible for the vineyards here (brother Luc is the winemaker), his family purchased this property, then a goat farm, in 1998. They planted most of it between 1999 and 2002 and now have 65 acres under vine: 46% pinot noir, 46% Sauvignon Blanc and 8% Chardonnay. The property features gently rolling hills and some steeper slopes, mostly on low-fertility clay and loess soil. But the hillsides are rockier, featuring a layer of clay of varying thickness over greywacke rock, a type of well-drained gray sandstone.

Following the purchase, the Cowleys discovered that Auntsfield was the site of the first vineyards planted in Marlborough; in fact, there was still an old house on the property as well as a tiny cellar constructed in 1873, the first in Marlborough. Ben's brother Luc is responsible for the winemaking. The Cowleys bottle about 20,000 cases a year and continue to sell off half of their fruit.

Ben noted that Luc is not trying to make wines styled like Burgundy but rather "just well-balanced wines in terms of what our fruit delivers." Ben applies the same philosophy to his work in the vines.

From New Zealand’s Pellucid Wines: More Light Than Heat (May 2016) by Stephen Tanzer

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2015 Sauvignon Blanc Single Vineyard

Release Price: $20

Color: White

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