Wairau Valley (lower, mid, upper valley – produces 45% of Marlborough’s fruit) - Old riverbed and riverbank soils, a diverse aspect and rainfall creates many meso-climates within this sub-region. Broadly, it covers cooler, drier inland sites, barren stony, early-ripening sites to sea-breeze moderated coastal sites. Wines all have the hallmark pure fruit intensity and body.
Southern Valleys (Ben Morven, Omaka, Fairhall, Brancott, Waihopai – produces 25% of Marlborough’s fruit) – older soils, rolling hills of wind deposited clay loam (loess), and weathered gravels on the flats. It gets cooler and drier further south into the valleys. Good for Pinot Noir and aromatics.
Awatere Valley (the southern most of the regions stretching inland from the coast – produces 30% of Marlborough’s fruit) - Cooler, drier, windier with long hot summers prone to drought. Higher terraces, geologically older than the Wairau Valley. Dramatic river terraces of stony gravels and sandstone. Sites with typically lower yields produce bright, aromatic Pinot Noir and dramatic, distinctive Sauvignons.
Find out more about Marlborough and its three sub regions by viewing this video.
