2021 Craggy Range Sauvignon Blanc Te Muna Road Vineyard

Vinous Media:  “The Te Muna Sauvignon Blanc comes from a terrace a few kilometers outside of Martinborough township. This area is higher, more exposed and marginally cooler than the vineyards in town, which brings even greater risks but greater rewards for its makers. This example has lovely sinew, offering tension and precision from start to finish, and providing purpose and long length. There are subtle steely aromas that sit in the green and citrus spectrum rather than overt tropical fruit; expect honeydew melon, grass, beeswax and lemon flavors. Very nicely done.” Vinous Media, 93 Points

Craggy Range

When Terry Peabody arrived home from a four-week business trip in the fall of 1993 his wife Mary, and daughter Mary-Jeanne, cooked him dinner. The meal was long and leisurely, but not without purpose. Terry wasn’t allowed to leave until he had agreed to go into the wine business. The specification was that the business must never be sold. It was to be a family business, an enduring heritage legacy.

That night, Terry made a commitment to the most important people in his life, and he intended to honour it. The search for a winery began traditionally enough – in France and America, spreading then to Australia. Other business brought him to the edge of the world, to New Zealand: a land of mountains, fire and ice – geographically the youngest country in the world – situated in the sweet latitudes for winegrowing.

Terry had always been impressed with the quality of New Zealand wines and he sensed a new and exciting possibility. In New Zealand he saw potential he hadn’t seen elsewhere. The country’s exceptional climate, the youth of the wine industry and the pioneering spirit of the people aligned with his own philosophy and desire to cut a different path. His ambition was not merely to buy into an existing vineyard or to emulate the greatest examples of wine styles in the world – it was bolder. He wanted to create new benchmarks with wines that would become internationally known as the New World classics.

Fate played its part. An acquaintance introduced Terry to noted Kiwi viticulturist Steve Smith, who had been named by Decanter magazine as ‘one of the 50 most influential people in the world of wine going into the next millennium.’ He was in good company alongside Chateau Margaux’s Paul Pontallier, Pierre Henry Gagey of Louis Jadot, and Jancis Robinson MW. He’d just become a Master of Wine – the only specialist viticulturist in the world to have the distinction.