2025 Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc

While most people think they know exactly what they’re getting with Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, Dog Point has always played a completely different game. Ivan Sutherland and James Healy helped define the region's style decades ago, but under their own label, the focus is entirely on organic farming, hand-picking, and wild ferments.

The 2025 season required serious patience. An exceptional spring led to the best fruit set seen in decades, followed by a long, warm summer that meant a marathon 46-day harvest - their longest in 24 years. This slow ripening has given the wine an incredible architectural frame.

This is a texturally driven, savoury take on the variety, steering well clear of sweet tropical clichés. It opens with restrained elderflower, white peach, and grapefruit, underpinned by the classic Dog Point smoky-flint complexity. The palate is punchy and completely dry, driven by a saline acid backbone and a fine phenolic crunch that makes it feel properly structured. We reckon it easily sits among the best whites coming out of New Zealand.

97 points
"A wine that catches you off guard with its familiar waft of candle wax and sparkler flint... It is exquisite in its balance – teetering tropical notes, the fragility of herbal suggestion and an utterly moreish finish."
- Shanteh Wale (Halliday Wine Companion)

94 points
"Restrained exuberance and a touch of salinity in the finish. 100% indigenous yeast fermentation. Impressive handmade wine considering the volume."
- James Suckling