SPOKE Awatere Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2024

The Dillon’s Point subregion of Marlborouh in new Zealand is home to the Glover family and their wines. After four generations of dairy farmers lived and worked ton this bit of land, Owen and Wendy Glover decided to give grapes a go and pioneered vine plantings in the subregion in the 1980’s. 19 years on the estate is run by winemaker, and something of a local legend, Ben Glover. Ben is a winemaker well worth following. Since launching his career in 1995, Ben has worked at several top New Zealand estates, including Wither Hills, and was an inaugural 2001 Len Evans scholar. He has spent years honing his considerable skills, all the while working as a highly respected judge at national and international competitions.

Today Ben continues to be innovative and questioning, as illustrated by his collaboration with Liam Steevenson MW as part of the ethically and environmentally excellent SPOKE project (which we’re also delighted to stock regularly at The Wine Society). Despite all his work away from the estate he keeps Zephyr at the top of its game, and the wines of the estate reflect Ben’s trademark expressively elegant yet characterful style in aromatic wines of, as he describes it, ‘power and place that tread lightly on your palate’. As part of that the estate achieved organic certification in time for the 2020 vintage.

The family’s land runs along the the Opawa River, where 14 hectares of chardonnay, gewürztraminer, riesling, pinot gris, pinot noir and sauvignon blanc are planted in the fertile loam soil on north-facing slopes. The vineyard is just under two miles from the sea, and that proximity bring what the family call an intriguing umami, saline note to the wines. The moderate breezes that prevail here have also influenced the name, Zephyr, though the famous marque of Ford cars may have something to do with it. The company car is a 1965 Ford Zephyr Mark 3 that pays tribute to the happy memories Owen Glover has of going to the beach in his grandad’s 1955 Mark 1.