Background

David Herd was a man with imagination. In 1854 he arrived in New Zealand and looked at the land he was farming. While everyone around him was thinking “sheep” he looked at it and thought “wine”. With this vision he became Marlborough’s founding winemaker. Auntsfield is the oldest vineyard in Marlborough – and 2023 marks the 160th year since the first vines were planted on the estate. This historic cellar was the first of its kind to be built in Marlborough in 1873.

Tasting notes

Intense and pure aromas of fresh passionfruit, and ripe citrus. Notes of dried herbs, mandarin peel and fresh floral notes give intensity to the aromatics. Powerful, tight and elegant. This wine displays intense ripe fruit flavours of passionfruit and white peach, and tropical fruits with fresh citrus and citrus peel. 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.

Winemaking

15% of the wine is fermented in seasoned French oak barrels, this does not impart any oak flavours, it just gives the wine a rich textural nuance.

Food pairings