When Graeme and Linda first bought the property, there were no grapes anywhere around them. It wasn’t until they began researching the history of the land, that they realised they had just purchased Marlborough’s very first vineyard. Auntsfield is a family business in every sense of the word. And, at the very heart of this, are Graeme and Linda’s sons – Ben and Luc Cowley. The relationship of Ben with the land and Luc with the wine is as authentic as wine gets.
The Southern Valleys is a sub region within Marlborough where the climate is cooler and drier. With its mix of high mineral Greywacke rock and old low fertility Loess clay soils, the Southern Valleys is regarded for its riper styles of wine with more structure, texture and minerality. The Auntsfield vineyard covers 65 hectares and is planted in Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir.
The grapes were picked during cool evenings, fermentation at low temperatures with cultured yeast in stainless steel tanks was utilised to retain the fresh varietal aromatics. After fermentation, the wine underwent an extended period of lees contact, adding texture and length to the wine. The result is a hand-crafted wine combining the bright fresh fruit characters with an underlying minerality and fine structure.
The Auntsfield Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc has lifted and pure aromas of fresh passionfruit, ripe citrus and lime. Notes of dried herbs, lemongrass, jalapeno and blackcurrant add pungency and intensity to the aromatics. The palate is powerful, tight and elegant. This wine displays intense ripe fruit flavours of passionfruit juice and white peach, with citrus notes of lime and mandarin pith. The palate has intense concentration and generous weight, balanced by an underlying minerality and tight structure to shape a wine with lively tension and textural balance.
