Located in the north eastern corner of New Zealand's South Island the region is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east and towering mountain ranges to the west, north and south.
Marlborough is one of New Zealand's sunniest and driest areas with 2500 sunshine hours and 650mm of rain per annum.
With long sunshine hours and a relatively cool climate, our vineyards enjoy a long slow ripening period that intensifies flavours and conjures the unique character of Marlborough’s iconic wines. Strong diurnal variation is the key to Marlborough's fruit intensity and strong varietal expression, keeping acid levels high over long ripening times.
The region is made up of three distinct sub regions – the Southern Valleys, Wairau Valley (upper, mid, lower) and the Awatere Valley. Whitehaven prides itself on having vineyard sites in all three of these sub-regions.
An extensive braided river system has, over many hundreds of years, deposited stony sandy loam over very deep, stony gravels in a valley made up of fertile plains. This has all helped helped to shape Marlborough's very unique wine styles. The Wairau River is one of the South Island's largest rivers, flowing for 170 km inland towards the Wairau Bar where it meets the sea.
Small in size but big in success Marlborough is internationally recognised for producing world renowned, premium new world wines.
