Seifried Nelson Sauvignon Blanc 2026

Gold (96 Points) - The New Zealand International Wine Show 2026
Gold - National Wine Awards of Aotearoa NZ 2026
94 Points (5 Stars) - Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, August 2026
93 Points - Cameron Douglas MS, September 2026

Vineyard: Seifried Lord Rutherford and Rabbit Island vineyards
Date of Harvest: Mid-late March 2026
pH of Wine: 3.07
T.A of Wine: 7.4g/L
Residual Sugar of Wine: 2.7g/L
Alcohol: 12.5%
Suitable for Vegetarian and Vegans: Yes

Our Lord Rutherford vineyard is located in Brightwater, behind the birthplace and memorial to renowned New Zealand physicist Ernest Rutherford, the first person to split the atom. Once a dairy farm, the site has more fertile soils than our other vineyards, with large river stones from the nearby Wai-iti River. The stones are tough on farm equipment but capture the warmth of Nelson’s sun, helping to ripen the grapes and producing bright tropical flavours in the fruit.

Our Rabbit Island vineyard is situated on a wide river flat, about 1.5km from the sea, which helps moderate temperatures. The soil is gravelly sandy loam, which marks the sites of Māori kūmara (sweet potato) beds prior to European settlement in the early 1800s. The Māori transferred and spread fine gravel and sand over the land to provide suitable soils for their kūmara plantings. Scrub
was burned to give ash and charcoal, which increased soil fertility and characteristic topsoil. This fertility is now considerably reduced due to modern farming. The soils are, however, very sandy and free-draining. The water table is relatively high, ensuring adequate underground water.

Fresh, aromatic Sauvignon Blanc flavours were encouraged prior to vintage through careful canopy management. The fruit was de-stemmed and pressed immediately after harvest, and a cool fermentation was initiated in stainless steel tanks to retain the clean aromatic fruit characters.