About this winery
Spy Valley Wines is one of Marlborough’s few remaining 100% Kiwi family-owned wine companies, owned and operated by the Johnson family since 1990. The winery is located up the road from a Five Eyes Spy base and is known as one of New Zealand’s most acclaimed producers. Established in 1993 on land considered too hard and too unfertile for wine, Spy Valley comprises of 180 hectares of estate vineyards. Pioneering what was then a Marlborough sub-region, the Johnsons continued to develop the...
See the SPY VALLEY detail page for more information on this brand
Product notes
Waihopai Valley – Johnson Vineyard - Top terraces with clay/silt loam lenses over free draining alluvium.
Omaka Valley – Outpost Vineyard - Variable depth windblown clay/loess over clay-bound glacial gravel. Direct North facing aspect, on moderately steep hillside slopes.
Production notes
Select estate vineyard blocks were kept separate until final blending. The grape bunches were mostly destemmed and fermented naturally in open vats. After gentle plunging the wine was drained to barrels for 11 months prior to blending.
Tasting notes
Pale-medium ruby colour. Lovely, intense nose of black tea leaf, earthy notes and beetroot surround a core of strawberry, cherry, and spice aromas reflected on the ripe palate. Acids are fresh and well-balanced, while the light, rounded tannins have a pleasant, fine-grained and slightly chalky texture. Juicy with tangy black cherry, and stony minerals linger on the long, satisfying finish.