Auntsfield Estate was the first commercial winery to be established in Marlborough in 1892. When Graeme and Linda Cowley first bought the property, there were no grapes anywhere around them. It wasn’t until they began researching the history of the land, that they realised they had just purchased Marlborough’s very first vineyard. After changing land uses over the years, the vineyard was given some TLC by the Cowley family, who planted the property with Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir. They now have around 65 acres planted on north-facing, glacially carved slopes on Greywacke rock overlaid with fine clay soil.

In the early 2000s, brothers Ben and Luc Cowley became interested in the project that was started by their parents. Ben was having second thoughts about raising a family in Auckland, and eventually gave up his career as a film cameraman, retrained in viticulture, and moved his young family from Auckland to Marlborough. He lives on the estate and is totally in touch with the land and weather. He knows when to harvest and when to take risks; no one knows his family’s land better than him. Ben believes that “wine with provenance is created from quality fruit grown in a distinctive terroir.” Ben’s brother Luc followed suit soon after Ben moved to Marlborough and completed his training in oenology. To this day, he oversees all of the cellar work from fermentation to aging to bottling, and all the minutia in between.

The most distinctive thing about Auntsfield’s wines is they come not from the valley floor like most of Marlborough’s produers, but in but in the rolling hills of the Southern Valleys that were shaped by glaciers over ten thousand years. Here, the clay soils provide added depth and intrigue to the heady perfumes of the Auntsfield wines. Plus, Auntsfield is unique as a Marlborough producer in that over half of its land is planted to Pinot Noir rather than the much more prevalent Sauvignon Blanc.

Today, the Cowleys farm everything sustainably, with most of their wines being organically certified with native yeast fermentations. The Sauvignon Blanc is a pure, zippy version with a strong fruit core. It has a deeper, riper, more intriguing flavor profile than many of the vineyards located on the valley floor. The Chardonnay has the mouthfeel of Mâcon with the light new oak of next-gen Sonoma and the soul of New Zealand’s south island, and the Pinot Noir is an excellent alternative to Sonoma or Willamette. With just a hint of new oak, it is made in a vibrantly fruity style, a true testament to Marlborough’s extremely sunny, maritime climate. These wines have continued to earn Auntsfield its place in the highest echelon of Marlborough producers.