Guide
How to Read a Marlborough Vintage Report
Bud burst, flowering, baume and tonnes picked: what each line of a vintage report means for the glass.
A reading room for Marlborough wine. The Wairau Cellar follows the vintage from frost to bottle, takes the region's grapes one by one, and walks the stones of the valley that shape them. The journal is independent: it sells no wine and answers to no producer.
Section
Vintage Reports and Cellaring
The year on the bottle is the cheapest information on the shelf. This section teaches the reading.
Section
Grapes and Wine Styles
One valley, more than one voice: sauvignon blanc fame and the quiet bargains beside it.
Guide
Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc
How a single crossing came to own a valley, and why it tastes of passionfruit and cut grass.
Guide
Marlborough Pinot Noir
Valley floor pinot told clone by clone, and set beside Central Otago and Martinborough.
Guide
Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris
Riesling, gewurztraminer and pinot gris sorted apart, scent by scent, with food matches.
Guide
Traditional Method Sparkling Wine
Second fermentation in bottle, lees, riddling racks and dosage: the patient method explained.
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Climate, Soils and the Valley
Ground, weather and place: reading the valley the wines come from, from sky to stone.
Guide
The Climate of Marlborough
The sunniest and the frostiest wine ground in the country, and how both can be true.
Guide
Geography of the Wairau Valley
The braided river, the terraces, the ranges: a map of the valley in words.
Guide
Soils, Stones and Water
Greywacke stones, old river channels and silt seams: why vines here work for their water.
Guide
The Huia, the Bird Behind the Name
The lost wattlebird whose name this address carried for a quarter century.