Marlborough, New Zealand: Sauvignon Blanc capital of the World
SAUVIGNON BLANC'S BIGGEST FAN?
Jules is Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc’s most ardent ambassador. Nowhere else in the world produces Sauvignon Blanc with the exuberance and distinctiveness of Marlborough, and for Jules, this is the taste of home. Growing up alongside Marlborough’s vines and honing her craft on this signature variety – no one sings this grape’s praises like our Jules. It is her “desert island wine”.
NOT JUST SAUVIGNON BLANC!
But it’s not just Sauvignon Blanc. It turns out other varieties love Marlborough’s bountiful sunlight and free-draining soils.
Complex and perfumed Pinot Noir, fresh-tasting Chardonnay, peachy Pinot Gris and even niche Gruner Veltliner have all flourished in Marlborough.
Complex and perfumed Pinot Noir, fresh-tasting Chardonnay, peachy Pinot Gris and even niche Gruner Veltliner have all flourished in Marlborough.
HIDDEN HILLSIDE VINEYARDS
Hidden hillside sites with lower rainfall and clay soils are ideally suited to Marlborough’s increasingly popular Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Jules tends to avoid the flat vineyards in the centre of the Wairau Valley floor. Her fruit is from tucked-away pockets around the margins of Marlborough – these sites might be more challenging to farm, but they yield the most distinctive, characterful flavours.
Jules tends to avoid the flat vineyards in the centre of the Wairau Valley floor. Her fruit is from tucked-away pockets around the margins of Marlborough – these sites might be more challenging to farm, but they yield the most distinctive, characterful flavours.
The Beauty's In the Detail
Ask Jules, and she'll tell you the wine flavours vary enormously across Marlborough's three major sub-regions: the wide, sunny Wairau Valley gravels where it all began, the clay-soil hillside sites tucked away in the Southern Valleys, and the wind-whipped Awatere stretching from snowy peaks down to the coast. Even within those sub-regions there are clear differences. Jules loves the exuberant flavours from the heavier soils of the lower Wairau for example, but avoids fruit from the central valley floor.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Having grown up alongside Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough wines “taste like home” to Jules. She keeps things personal and hands-on, leveraging her extensive social network of family, friends and colleagues to access the best fruit with stand-out flavours.
Finding these parcels of vineyard deliciousness is paramount for Jules. She firmly believes the best wines are grown in the vineyard and tirelessly seeks them out.
Finding these parcels of vineyard deliciousness is paramount for Jules. She firmly believes the best wines are grown in the vineyard and tirelessly seeks them out.
PACING THE ROWS
Come harvest time, Jules makes the crucial decision of when to pick based purely on flavour. No harvest-by-numbers here!
In the lead-up to vintage, you’ll find Jules relentlessly walking the vineyard rows, tasting berries until her tummy hurts, searching for that precise moment when sugar, acidity and flavour meet in flawless perfection.
From that moment, it’s full steam ahead for harvest, capturing those flavours and getting the wines on their way to your glass.
In the lead-up to vintage, you’ll find Jules relentlessly walking the vineyard rows, tasting berries until her tummy hurts, searching for that precise moment when sugar, acidity and flavour meet in flawless perfection.
From that moment, it’s full steam ahead for harvest, capturing those flavours and getting the wines on their way to your glass.
APPELLATION MARLBOROUGH WINE
Appellation Marlborough Wine (AMW) is a mark of origin to protect Marlborough Wines' reputation. To carry it, a wine must:
- Be grown entirely in Marlborough,
- Be sustainably certified,
- Bebottled in NZ — nothing gets shipped off to be finished elsewhere,
- Meet yield requirements set by season and variety,
- Pass a blind tasting by a panel of fellow winemakers.
Jules is a staunch advocate of the region and its wines. She was a founding member of Appellation Marlborough Wine and is proud to be a part of this group today.
- Be grown entirely in Marlborough,
- Be sustainably certified,
- Bebottled in NZ — nothing gets shipped off to be finished elsewhere,
- Meet yield requirements set by season and variety,
- Pass a blind tasting by a panel of fellow winemakers.
Jules is a staunch advocate of the region and its wines. She was a founding member of Appellation Marlborough Wine and is proud to be a part of this group today.
BLIND TASTED BY PANEL OF EXPERTS
Before an AMW wine gets released to market, it is tasted blind by a panel of other Marlborough winemakers. They ensure that every AMW-labelled wine is a great example of the high quality, exuberant wine styles that built this region's reputation.
Jules has regularly been one of these judges since she joined as a founding member back in 2018, and always submits her wines to her peers for tasting and evaluation.
Read more at the AMW website.
Jules has regularly been one of these judges since she joined as a founding member back in 2018, and always submits her wines to her peers for tasting and evaluation.
Read more at the AMW website.
