ROHE BLIND RIVER SAUVIGNON BLANC

BLIND RIVER SUB-REGION

The driest, coolest, and most wind-swept sub-region located on Marlborough's Southern Coast. The soil is free draining, and a mix of stone and clay.

TASTING NOTES

Intensely aromatic with lemongrass, yellow citrus, and an unforgettable richness on the palate. The mouth-watering acidity helps drive a lengthy finish. This wine is immediately expressive and will continue to drink well for the next five years

VINTAGE REPORT & WINEMAKING

2025 was a vintage where patience was rewarded. Spring's warm weather created ideal growing conditions and abundant crop loads, which we carefully reduced to enhance fruit quality. January's cool temperatures extended the fruit ripening period, enhancing pallet weight and aromatic intensity. Benefiting from ideal weather, we commenced harvest in mid-March, methodically working block by block as each reached optimal conditions. After gently pressing the grapes, juice was fermented in stainless steel with selected yeast strains to retain the flavours unique to this sub-region. Some batches of juice were fermented warmer to build plate weight. The cooler fermentations retained the aromatics and freshness. The best batches were tasted and blended, before being kept on lees for three months, prior to bottling.

UNLOCK THE SUB-REGION

ROHE Blind River Sauvignon Blanc by Rapaura Springs - YouTube

2025 TASTING NOTE

2024 TASTING NOTE

2023 TASTING NOTE

ACCOLADES & REVIEWS

BEST IN SHOW & 97 points | Decanter World Wine Awards 2026
"This is a hugely impressive wine. Silver in colour, it has arresting vitality and energy on the nose, but unusual complexity too; melon, mango, pear, Japanese citrus, resin, thyme and rue were among the notes our judges detected, woven together with great skill and discernment, and with no note dominating or lacking refinement. On the palate it's excitingly flavourly in all of the ways the aromas sketched out - yet it's also soft, complex, textured and hauntingly savoury as well as floral and fruity. 2026 was an outstanding DWWA year for New Zealand Sauvignon, and this layered, high-finesse yet at the same time amply drinkable wine had to see off many competitors to earn its place in the top 50."

93 points | Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate, 2026
"The 2025 ROHE Blind River Sauvignon Blanc leads with a nose steeped in pressed flowers, musk sticks, pineapple husk, passionfruit notes and green olive tapenade. It has a softness to it, which I find very attractive. In the mouth, the wine is concentrated and punchy - it stops for nothing across the palate - and forges through a powerful, almost explosive finish. There's a lot going on here, and it all works."

93 points | Wine Spectator 2025
"Intense and complex, this white opens with grilled pineapple, Meyer lemon, litsea oil and toasted herbs. A savoury thread includes crunchy sea salt details and a chive flower hint, with a supple, almost creamy texture, plus a grace note of honeysuckle and mouthwatering acidity. Drink now."

92 points | The Real Review, 2025
"More weight in a textured, constructed style. Passionfruit and tropical melon flavours sit proudly above the hints of savoury herbs. Rounded and fleshy, this harnesses its acid-sugar balance well, supported by good concentration of fruit."

92 points & premium | Cameron Douglas MS, 2025
" Vibrant, youthful and fruity core with classic tropical fruits frame showing passionfruit, then peach and citrus, a grapefruit and citrus peel and apple. Crisp and dry, there's a crunchy, fresh mouthfeel with a backbone of acidity and fine lees complexity framing flavours of fresh orchard and tropical fruits, a touch of herb and stony mineral qualities. Best drinking from 2025 through 2027."

93 points | International Wine Challenge 2025