Saint Clair Pinot Blanc makes an impression with Marlborough Wine Show judges two years in a row

Saint Clair Family Estate took away the Move Logistics Champion Other White Wine at the 2023 Marlborough Wine Show, sponsored by QuayConnect.

Their Pioneer Block 28 Camp Block Pinot Blanc 2020 was the trophy winner, after the 2019 vintage of the same wine picked up the same trophy last year.

We caught up with their senior winemaker, Stewart Maclennan, to find out a bit more about the trophy-worthy wine…

Congratulations on picking up the Champion Other White Wine trophy at the 2023 show. This is the second year the Pioneer Block 28 Camp Block Pinot Blanc has picked up this trophy in as many years - what makes this wine so special?

Thank you! The growing area, west of Condors Bend is excellent for growing highly structured and concentrated fruit. What we love about this wine is the savoury, unobtrusive nature of the fruit. It gives way to a wine that develops beautiful secondary characters in the bottle with a relatively short amount of bottle age.

Pinot Blanc is reasonably rare here in New Zealand. Can you tell us a bit about the variety? What makes Marlborough a good place to produce it?

Marlborough is Pinot country! Our Pinot Gris’ are world class, and one of our many best kept secrets, Pinot Blanc similarly can thrive here in our perfect little cool climate. Much like its Pinot cousins, finding the right balance of ripeness and crispness is key to expressing these cultivars in their best light.

Pinot Blanc is subtle in its primary fruit expression, which often makes it an ideal food companion, but for the same reason remains under the radar globally. It remains an important foundational varietal in regions including France, Germany and Austria.

Saint Clair has a long history in the region, which as you know is marking 50 years of modern winemaking this year. How does it feel to continually be recognised among your peers, particularly since you’ve been around since the start?

It’s so exciting to be marking this occasion as an industry and community, and we’re thrilled to be a notable participant in the journey.

Our industry is so supportive and uplifting of each other, we generally feel that our successes are ultimately the successes of the New Zealand industry.

We love being involved in the awards circuits; it helps push us all out of our humble Kiwi tendencies, and embrace some supportive competition, and it helps mark the journey of improvement and creativity for NZ wine.

Marlborough has long been known for its Sauvignon Blanc. Saint Clair Family Estate has been making an impression with many other varieties for some years now. Do you think Sauvignon Blanc remains the future of Marlborough wine or is there scope for some of these lesser-known Marlborough varieties to make a splash?

Strength through diversity! Sauvignon Blanc remains core to our future for sure, but there’s certainly examples of other regions moving between varietals over time.

It would be fair to say that the majority of consumers won’t hold much space for more than a few varietals from a region. That said, the majority of consumers probably couldn’t name the varietals in a Rioja, or a Sancerre or Burgundy.

Marlborough isn’t just exceptional for Sauvignon Blanc, it’s an exceptional place to grow great wine grapes.

Maintaining a strong and diverse range of world class wines strengthens our reputation as a world class producer, and driver of innovation and builds on our flexibility to adapt to changing conditions and demands.