Marlborough
Early settlers in Marlborough planted vines as early as the 1870s. A small block of Brown Muscat was planted in 1873 by David Herd, but in 1931 his son pulled up the last of the vines, and no others were recorded in the region for the next forty years.Commercial wine-making began in earnest only in 1973 when the first large-scale vineyards were planted by Montana Wines, at the time New Zealand's largest producer (now Brancott Estate, owned by Pernod Ricard). Meanwhile in 1975 Daniel Le Brun, a Champagne maker, emigrated to New Zealand to begin producing méthode traditionelle in Marlborough. Wineries in the Marlborough region were producing outstanding Sauvignon Blanc by the early 1980s, and in 1985 the Sauvignon Blanc from Cloudy Bay Vineyards finally garnered international attention and critical acclaim for New Zealand wine.Wine writer George Taber recounted in 2006 that Cloudy Bay is "what many people consider to be the world's best Sauvignon Blanc" and Oz Clarke wrote that New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is "arguably the best in the world." The suitability of the region and later success of Daniel Le Brun's sparkling wines were also sufficient to attract significant investment from Champagne producers.
New Zealand's plantings of Sauvignon Blanc experienced enormous growth in the 21st century, driven almost exclusively by investment in the Marlborough region.It expanded from 4,516 hectares (11,160 acres) of vineyard area in 2003 to 23,102 hectares (57,090 acres) in 2018, a five-fold increase in just 15 years.
Marlborough was established in 2018 as a New Zealand geographical indication (GI) under new legislation. In the same year, several Marlborough wineries formed Appellation Marlborough Wine to further protect the integrity and quality standards of Marlborough wines through a certification process. To qualify, wines must be made entirely from sustainably grown grapes from Marlborough, comply with cropping rates set annually, and be bottled in New Zealand.
Méthode Marlborough, a collaboration of sparkling wine producers.
Marlborough also hosts significant production of méthode traditionelle sparkling wine made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, sufficient to attract investment from large Champagne producers Mumm, Deutz, Moët & Chandon (which now owns Cloudy Bay) and Veuve Clicquot.In 2013 several Marlborough producers established Méthode Marlborough, a collaborative organisation to standardise and promote the brand both domestically and internationally.