Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc 2023

"This is one of the best Sauvignon Blancs made in New Zealand each year. It has distinctive complex aromas, a medium body and fabulous purity of flavour with tangy lemon adding to the tropical flavours we all know and love in Sauvignon. This wine has more weight, depth, and length than most Sauvignon Blancs and over-delivers, big time."  Joelle Thomson – 19.0/20 points

"A stellar wine from an outstanding vintage. Grapefruit, guava, passionfruit and other fruits abound on an intensely flavoured palate with oodles of varietal flavour. But it's the focus, precision and mouth-watering acidity that bear testament to the exceptional quality of the wine. As good as Sauvignon Blanc gets."  Nick Munday, Canterbury Wines - 96 points and Special Value Wine  ★ 

"If you’d like to taste Sauvignon Blanc in its modern day glory, look no further. The Marlborough sunshine and pinpoint precision in the vineyard and winery is all found here. Sourced from estate fruit in the Wairau Valley you’ll find star fruit, passion blossom, juicy pineapple and guava. The abundance of fruit continues on the palate with an electric line of acidity and sea spray finish. The dryness of the wine takes elegance to another dimension. Sith purity and drive, this is a triumph of a vintage and its magic is captured in the bottle. Drink now with raw scallop ceviche."  Shanteh Wale, Wine Pilot – 95 points

"Bright, fresh wine with typical varietal/regional characters including capsicum, gooseberry, lemongrass and passionfruit. Appealing purity with a perfect sweet/sour balance. A pleasure to taste. Drink: 2023-2026."  Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review - 95 points

"The thought-provoking 2023 vintage is arguably the best yet. Pale lemon/green, it is full-bodied and vigorous, with penetrating, ripe, passionfruit/lime flavours, showing a distinct ouch of complexity, and a dry, long finish. Still unfolding, it should break into full stride mid-2024+."  Michael Cooper Buyer’s Guide to New Zealand Wines  ★★★★★

Special Value Wine – Canterbury Wines  ★

Wairau Valley is one of three major sub-regions within the famous Marlborough wine region of New Zealand, accounting for around 45% of Marlborough's fruit. It the northernmost of the main wine-growing areas, which also include the Awatere Valley and the Southern Valleys (refer to the map below). 

Wairau is a Māori word meaning "many waters". The subregion is broadly defined by its proximity to the 170km long Wairau River that runs from the mountains in the west to the ocean at Cloudy Bay. Marlborough's earliest vineyards were established on the characteristically alluvial river plains that include the acclaimed Rapaura and Renwick areas.

The Wairau Valley sits closest to the Richmond Ranges which see more rainfall than the Wither Hill range that dominates the Southern Valley. It is these ranges that protect the Wairau Valley and Marlborough from weather events coming from the north and north west.

Old riverbed and riverbank soils, diverse aspect and rainfall give many meso-climates within this subregion. Broadly, it covers cooler, drier inland sites, barren stony, early ripening sites to sea breeze moderated coastal sites. Soils are more gravelly to the north nearer the riverbed. Within this, wines reflect the individual terrior but all have the hallmark pure fruit intensity and body.

Marlborough and its sub-regions

Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc

"Grapes are picked from eight of our own vineyards within the Wairau Valley. Cropped at an average of 10 tonnes/hectare. The fruit is whole bunch pressed, cold settled before fermentation and 4 months aging in stainless steel tanks. A portion of this wine is fermented using indigenous yeast. Bottled without fining.

The wine is our version of the classic dry aromatic style of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. The citrus core of flavours are juicy and intense with deliciously refreshing saline acidity. The wine calls for simple fresh seafood but can also be enjoyed as a pre-dinner aperitif."  Dog Point

Marlborough sub-regions

James Healy (left) and Ivan Sutherland (right)

The Dog Point Vineyard was planted by Ivan and Margaret Sutherland back in the late 1970s, making it one of the oldest privately owned vineyards in Marlborough. The vineyard is centrally located at the confluence of the smaller Brancott and Omaka Valleys, a very desirable area for grape growing in Marlborough, and is neighbour to the first commercially planted vineyard in Marlborough (planted in 1973 by Montana). 

Ivan Sutherland met James Healy in the 1990s when they worked together at Cloudy Bay, Ivan in viticulture and James in winemaking. This was during the time when Cloudy Bay put quality Marlborough wine (particularly Sauvignon Blanc) on the map. In 2002 Ivan and James decided to leave Cloudy Bay to start their own label, with Ivan providing the fruit and James making the wine in one of those classic wine partnerships. They launched the Dog Point label in 2004 using fruit from the 2002 vintage. It came as no surprise to anyone that Dog Point hit the ground running and produced, and continues to produce, wines of the highest quality. 

The property is planted to Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grown under organic principles. Fruit for the wines is sourced from the older well-established vines planted back in the late 1970s and supplemented with fruit from newer closely planted hillside vines. The Sauvignon Blanc vines are on average 25 years old, the oldest being well over 30 years of age. The Section 94 vines that go into the single vineyard, barrel fermented Sauvignon Blanc are 30 years old. The average vine age for the Chardonnay is 30 years old, with the oldest vines being 40 years old. The Pinot Noir vines date back to the early 1980s, making some of them around 40 years old.

We want you to enjoy your wines as soon as possible and endeavour to dispatch orders as quickly as we can. It may take us a little longer during sales or peak trading periods, so kindly keep that in mind if you are purchasing for a special occasion.

Shipping Cost

Delivery is free on any order of 12 or more bottles to Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Gold Coast, Newcastle, Sunshine Coast, Wollongong and rural Victoria.

On orders of 12 or more bottles to all other areas, we cover a percentage of the shipping costs. Shipping is calculated at checkout.

For orders of less than 12 bottles Australia wide, shipping is calculated at checkout.

Insurance

All orders are fully insured.

Standard Delivery

We use Australia Post and a Specialist Wine Courier (Anonymous Wine Freight) for domestic deliveries. Your location will determine which of these delivery services will be available.

Couriers will not telephone ahead to notify you of time of delivery and delivery on specific days can not be guaranteed.

While a large number of destinations are serviced within 48 hours or less, please allow up to 14 days for delivery within Australia.

Specialist Wine Delivery Service

We offer a specialist temperature-controlled wine delivery service called Anonymous Wine Freight to deliver your wine if you live close to the CBD in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney or Perth, or live in Byron Bay, Gold Coast, Mornington Peninsula or Geelong. If Anonymous Wine Freight services your postcode, the option to use them will appear on checkout. Here is a link to the list of postcodes they service. 

They are highly recommended as they ship in refrigerated transport to climate-controlled warehouses in each metro area before they make their way to your delivery address in air-conditioned vehicles for the last kilometers. In addition, they will even call you by phone at the time of delivery if they encounter any problems.

Please find their delivery schedule below.

Pick-up

If you live in Melbourne, you can pick up your order from our office in Camberwell by prior arrangement. Please select the 'Pick Up' delivery option during checkout and we will contact you to arrange a suitable time for pick-up once the order has been packed.

What if I won’t be home?

If you may not be home at the time of delivery and would like the wine left in a safe place, please give Authority to Leave (ATL) and any delivery instructions in the 'DELIVERY INSTRUCTIONS & ATL' at the bottom of the shopping cart, located just above the CHECKOUT button. 

If you have requested delivery with Australia Post and have not given Authority to Leave, a signature will be required on delivery. If you miss the postman, the order will be taken to your local Post Office for collection.

If you have requested delivery with our specialist wine courier (Anonymous Wine Freight), the driver will phone you for instructions if you are not at home at the time of delivery. If he can't contact you, the order will be taken to their local depot and can be re-delivered subject to a $20.00 fee.

Summer Heat Policy

If during hot weather you would like us to delay dispatch of your order to avoid potential heat damage to your wine please let us know. We are more than happy to store your order in our climate controlled warehouse until the weather is cooler. Please add the request in the 'DELIVERY INSTRUCTIONS & ATL' at the bottom of the shopping cart, located just above the CHECKOUT button.

Alternatively, we may email you and request to delay dispatch of your order until the weather is cooler. If this happens, you can of course request immediate delivery if you wish.

International Shipping

We deliver wine to a number of destinations worldwide. If you require overseas delivery, please email us with the relevant information and we will advise you if we can deliver to your selected destination and the shipping costs involved.

International orders are supplied GST free. Please be aware that you will be responsible for the payment of all duties and taxes that are levied by your local authorities.

Minimum order requirements apply.