In the mid 1980s, the world’s eyes and palates were drawn to a maritime province at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, thanks to startling Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough’s Wairau Plains.

Thirty-five years on, those lean and stony river flats are covered in verdant wines, producing fresh, lively and aromatic Sauvignon Blanc. But they are increasingly rivalled by neighbouring subregions, including the Southern Valleys and Awatere Valley, each bringing a unique flavour profile to the ongoing story of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

Marlborough wine companies are counting their luck, after harvesting the 2020 vintage amidst a national lockdown. But the vintage will be remembered for more than winery bubbles and Covid-19 precautions, with a benign season delivering excellent fruit.

“If you didn’t panic; if you weighed up your options and proceeded calmly, then you could make the most of an extremely good harvest - one of the best we’ve had,” says Dog Point viticulturist Nigel Sowman.

The variety is the star of today and the star of the future, says viticulturist and wine research stalwart Dominic Pecchenino, who moved to Marlborough from the US in the early 1990s. “Marlborough owns Sauvignon Blanc – we own the style, no one else can do it.” There is no “secret clone”, he says. “The fruit develops at a time when the weather conditions are perfect.”

Leading British wine writer Oz Clarke clearly recalls the moment he discovered Sauvignon Blanc. “A wine that took the whole concept of green and expanded it, stretched it and pummelled it, and gloriously reinterpreted it on a riot of gooseberry and lime zest, green apples, green pepper, sliced through with an ice-cold knife of steel.”

Vintage 2019 has been blessed with kind weather, excellent quality, low disease pressure and breathing space between varieties, says Villa Maria viticulturist Stuart Dudley on March 22, the day Villa launched into 24-hour mode in the vineyards and winery. “In general, from a quality point of view, things are looking great. Last year we were literally rushing around keeping an eye on the condition of fruit and making sure it was holding. Whereas this year we are just walking around looking at how good it all is.” Villa winemaker Helen Morrison puts it even more succinctly, when she says “yay for Vintage 2019!”