THE PEOPLE
“I produce base wines that will hopefully lend themselves to their styles. Graham doesn’t want a tropical fruit bomb. He wants freshness and crispness.” The UK consumer remains nostalgic for their first experience with Kiwi Sauvignon, he says. “It’s that zinginess, racy lime green that they relate to still.” Sarah Jessica Parker, on the other hand, was more familiar with Chardonnay than Sauvignon Blanc at the time of meeting Tim and Rob. This prompted an alternative approach to Invivo X, SJP. “It’s completely different with SJ,” says Rob. “Sauvignon is very versatile, so we talked about taking some aspects of Chardonnay and adding them to Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. We started off with that basic premise, that we would be more on the tropical side, it’d be a little softer and really textural, and we do use oak in there as well.” Invivo Sauvignon Blanc is the result of Rob’s global winemaking experience, having worked in Moldova, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Hungary through to France, Spain and Italy. “It’s our style,” says Rob. “It is very textural, lots of lees stirring, super tropical, really aromatic.” There are clear differences in the three wines, Tim says. “That’s the beauty of Sauvignon Blanc – it expresses itself in so
Wine tracking during Covid
many ways.” There is still much enthusiasm and opportunity for New Zealand wine, he adds. “We were in Dallas recently, visiting a buyer. It’s winter in Dallas only four days of the year – Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is perfect for this place. They were excited for our wine, excited to see more of it come in. New Zealand is under-indexing in the state of Texas.”
“Look around your backyard [Marlborough],” Rob says. “You live in a monoculture for a reason, because people want it.” He recalls “being in awe” when visiting the region as a young winemaker. “It was like meeting your childhood heroes; meeting the winemakers and tasting their wines. And there was so much passion, and innovation, and excitement. And we’ve lost a bit of that. We need to get it back.”
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I NEW ZEALAND WINEGROWER I JUNE/JULY 2025