Reserve Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc

This wine was created to redefine the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc style. A real crowd pleaser, it is loved for its juicy, ripe flavours and restrained acidity. Each glass is brimming with succulent flavours of passionfruit, tropical fruit and crushed black currant leaf. The fruit flavour is balanced with crisp acidity and a distinct salty minerality, which combine to create a mouth-watering finish.

Reserve Sauvignon Blanc

Expertly crafted from our favourite vineyards, our Reserve wines have impressive flavour concentration and palate weight. Adorning every label on every bottle of Rapaura Springs wine is a simple symbol – a circle of rocks that signify the pure spring in our home vineyard in the heart of Marlborough, New Zealand. Our label and our name represent our intimate connection to the pristine waters that collect high in the Southern Alps and are gradually filtered beneath the region’s braided rivers, refreshing the deep underground aquifers that feed our vines, and bubble up in our own Rapaura Springs.

Tasting Notes

This wine was created to redefine the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc style. A real crowd pleaser, it is loved for its juicy, ripe flavours and restrained acidity. Each glass is brimming with succulent flavours of passionfruit, tropical fruit and black currant. The fruit flavour is balanced with crisp acidity and a distinct salty minerality, which combine to create a mouth-watering finish.

Winemaking Notes

The 2021 vintage was one of the earliest and shortest on record. The growing season was the third in a series of drought vintages, the stress on the vines was compounded by a huge wind run. The combination of some early frost events and a poor flowering resulted in lower yields and smaller bunches than usual. This, combined with the dry conditions, has meant that disease levels are incredibly low this year, resulting in better flavours and pristine fruit with good concentration, good tannin and good colour. We’re thrilled with the concentration and intensity of flavour in our 2021 wines, this vintage will be one to remember.

The Sauvignon Blanc for this wine is grown in the Dillons Point and lower Wairau sub-regions, known for expressive aromatics and ripe fruit flavour. We believe these sites grow the best Sauvignon Blanc in Marlborough. Our winery is the only facility in this sub-region, meaning our grapes are immediately pressed after harvest, minimising skin contact. This allows us to capture all the expressive aromatics and fruit flavour, without bitter phenolics. After pressing, the juice was settled and then cool fermented in stainless steel to retain the vibrant flavours and aromas. We use a variety of yeast strains to provide palate weight and complexity.

Cellaring Recommendation

Enjoy now, or cellar for up to two years.

2021 Tasting Note 2020 Tasting Note