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Buy OnlineBest in Show Trophy & 97/100 – Decanter World Wine Awards 2026
Included in the Appellation Marlborough Wine 2025 Annual Collection Top 12
One of the special single vineyard wines, this is from the Blind River area of the Awatere, the "driest, coolest and most windswept sub-region in Marlborough" – the vineyard is beside State Highway #1 just before Seddon heading north.
Rapaura Springs makes more small batches than any large wine company in Marlborough, this allows them to keep each vineyard and sometimes multiple batches from one vineyard separate until blending. This is an incredibly complex way of making wine, but they believe the results validate what they do.
There is no mistaking this with punchy aromatics and flavours and the quality is clearly evident on the palate. This is an excellent Sauvignon Blanc.
Winery notes (2025 Vintage)
"Intensely aromatic with lemongrass, yellow citrus and an unforgettable richness on the palate. The mouth-watering acidity helps drive a lengthy finish.This wine is immediately expressive and will continue to drink well for the next five years.
Blind River is the driest, coolest, and most windswept sub-region in Marlborough. Grapes grown here develop unique and intensified flavours as the grapevines are naturally restricted. The soils in this region are typically free draining, with a diverse composition of stone materials."
DWWA Judges' Comments (2025 Vintage)
"This is the sixth Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc to feature in our Best In Show selection – and of those six, half have carried an Awatere Valley origin, suggesting that this may prove to be one of the finest of Marlborough's sub-regions. This is a hugely impressive wine. Silver in colour, it has arresting vitality and energy on the nose, but unusual complexity, too: melon, mango, pear, Japanese citrus, resin, thyme and rue were among the notes our judges detected, woven together with great skill and discernment, and with no note dominating or lacking refinement. On the palate it's excitingly flavoury in all of the ways the aromas sketched out – yet it's also soft, complex, textured and hauntingly savoury as well as floral and fruity. 2026 was an outstanding DWWA year for New Zealand Sauvignon, and this layered, high-finesse yet at the same time amply drinkable wine had to see off many competitors to win its place in the Top 50."
93/100 Erin Larkin, RobertParker.com, Wine Advocate, April 2026 (2025 Vintage)
"The 2025 Rohe Blind River Sauvignon Blanc leads with a nose steeped in pressed flowers, musk sticks, pineapple husk, passion fruit notes and green olive tapenade. It has a softness to it, which I find very attractive. In the mouth, the wine is concentrated and punchy—it stops for nothing across the palate—and forges through the powerful, almost explosive finish. There's a lot going on here, and it all works."
93/100 David Walker Bell, WineFolio.co.nz, June 2026 (2025 Vintage)
"A translucent, shining silver colour in the glass. Brightly aromatic, with vibrant notes of yuzu, melon, blackcurrant, crushed green herbs, lemongrass, mandarin and pear. Complex but also packs a punch – from the nose through to the back of the palate. Savoury elements of white pepper, crushed shell and nettle mix with those fresh, direct fruits from the bouquet. A smooth, soft texture then swaddles the exit, with a mouth-watering and more-ish finish of good length."
