It’s rare indeed to discover a wine that so accurately mirrors its environment as does the fine, stony-edged sauvignon blanc of New Zealand’s Awatere Valley. Technically part of the country’s largest wine region of Marlborough, found at the northeast of the South Island, the Awatere Valley has however its own distinctive personality, shaped over time by the energies of the vigorous Awatere River. Most of Marlborough’s rightly celebrated sauvignon blanc and riesling hails from the Wairau Valley at the heart of the region, whose silt and gravel soils and reliable climate are perfectly suited to viticulture on a large scale. But it took a descendent of an ancient Norman family that served with William the Conqueror to plant the first vines on the dramatic stony terraces of the Awatere River, due east of and separated from the Wairau by a small range of dry hills. Peter Vavasour’s family has owned and farmed land on the terraces of the Awatere River since 1890. A syndicate he put together planted 12 ha of grapes at the Vavasour ‘home block’ in 1986, to a mix of sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, malbec, merlot, pinot noir, syrah and cabernet sauvignon. It didn’t take long after the new winery’s first vintage in 1989 to realise that its future lay firmly with sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and pinot noir. The business now owns 30 ha under vine and also buys in contracted fruit. Such is the energy and vigour of the Awatere River and so profoundly has it cut into its flood plain and occasionally steep-sided valleys that it makes a geologist out of virtually any visitor. Typically vines are planted into a metre or so of alluvial silt that overlies a couple of metres of stony gravel, below which lies a darker band of mudstone. Perfectly drained, rich in mineral content and naturally low in vigour, the best sites produce low-yielding crops whose rare brightness and focus of fruit flavour is perfectly offset by crystal-clear mineral acidity. Later in budburst and harvest, the Awatere’s vineyards are also less fertile and drier than those of the neighbouring Wairau. While most major Marlborough producers have by now either established vineyards in the Awatere Valley or are about to do so, only a few makers such as Whitehaven, The Crossings, Clifford Bay, Nautilus and Vavasour are presently releasing wines made exclusively from Awatere fruit. 2001 has not produced the number of top-end sauvignon blancs that New Zealanders have become accustomed to, but Vavasour’s effort by talented winemaker Glenn Thomas is every bit as vibrant, fresh and racy as ever. Its flavours of lemon, gooseberry and cassis and its lightly herbal edges are underpinned by bracing slatey acids, while its long and mineral palate truly reflects its stony origins. Its ‘reserve’ bottling of 1999 Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc reflects a higher level of winemaking input, with herby tropical fruit partnered by lightly toasty and buttery oak influences. My preference for style lies with the tighter, more expressive unwooded edition, since if a wine region is able to deliver such pure and distinctive fruit, I can’t figure why a winemaker would want to put anything in its way. Vavasour also makes a taut, tangy and minerally Chardonnay and one of the finest of Marlborough’s emergent class of quality pinot noir.
