Astrolabe, Province Pinot Noir Marlborough 2017

The vines are grown on the flat, moderately well-drained loamy and sandy alluvial soils of the younger terraces.  They practise organics, and the Farm is currently in BioGro conversion. The Pinot Noir grapes are wild fermented in traditional open top vats, with some inclusion of whole bunches, with the aim of increasing structure and complexity in the wine and complementing the natural, pure fruit flavours. Maturation occurs in well-seasoned tight-grain French oak barrels, where the wine accumulates texture and interest from the flavours of the oak, char on the barrels and further aging on lees before bottling.

Named after a 19th-century explorer’s ship, Astrolabe is Simon and Jane Waghorn’s voyage into winemaking exploration in New Zealand’s Marlborough region and is now 100% family-owned. The family-owned estate is rightly celebrated for wines that express the variety of their soil and the nuances of their terroir: from the Wairau and Awatere Valleys to the Kekerengu Coast. Astrolabe wines reflect the Waghorn’s innovative treatment of specific parcels and winemaking process to capture undiscovered qualities of individual grape varieties, resulting in some of the most pure and elegant wines from the region.