Sauvignon Learnings

New Zealand holds a special place in my heart, thanks to two particular producers – Greywacke and Blank Canvas. I was lucky to work with these two producers in my time at Liberty Wines – they are producing some of the very best wines from this country, competing with some of the world’s finest.

Kevin Judd - owner and winemaker of Greywacke, with Kohen Judd - overlooking the Awatere Valley.

On a trip to New Zealand in 2019 I started down south – flying into Queenstown. From here I visited some of the producers Liberty worked with in this area – Akarua and Burn Cottage – producers of some of Central Otago’s best Pinot Noirs.

Travelling up to Marlborough I made a brief stop in Canterbury. The wines from here don’t get much air-time in the UK but worth investigating if you come across them. I stopped at Black Estate for lunch – good food and good wines.

I arrived in Marlborough in time for the Wine Festival – a huge annual event at which Blank Canvas and Greywacke (and many wonderful others) were taking part. I spent a few days with each producer, seeing their vineyards and production and learning a huge amount about this region which is often stereo-typed.

Sophie Parker-Thomson MW in one of the Blank Canvas Pinot Noir vineyards.

People think of Marlborough as a homogenous zone churning out textbook Sauvignon Blanc which became so popular in the 1990s. But it is so much more than that. Yes there are big producers, but there are a myriad of boutique producers like Greywacke and Blanc Canvas creating truly unique and individual wines. I think the evolution of the wine industry in Marlborough and New Zealand have a few things in common with the emerging wine industry in England, and we could learn at lot from the Kiwis. We are both ‘new’ world – from countries where there is no lengthy historic culture of wine making. Both industries have launched onto the international stage with a hero style – the Sauvignon Blancs of New Zealand such as Cloudy Bay – and the traditional method sparkling wines of England. And both of these heros are not entry level – certainly not to start with – both have been premium offerings.

Sophie and Matt Thomson - tasting the Blank Canvas barrels.

The English wine trade could look to New Zealand and Marlborough for some important learnings. There have been fears of over-supply of Marlborough Sauvignon, and international markets driving the price and quality down – the same is a definite threat to English Sparkling Wine – traditional method or otherwise. Appellation Marlborough has done a great job of maintaining quality and authenticity when there was a danger of ubiquitous NZSB taking over. They have clear messaging around sustainability and quality. English producers could learn from their example.