Kim Crawford Spitfire Small Parcels Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2023
£18.95
The wine
Intense, with lifted tropical fruit aromatics leading into a range of complex flavours.
Spitfire takes its name from a site in Marlborough, and Small Parcels are the batches held back and bottled separately rather than blended into the main cuvée. Marlborough sits at the top of the South Island, where a huge swing between hot days and cold nights gives the wines their pungency and their acidity. The Wairau gravels suit Sauvignon; the cooler clay of the Southern Valleys suits Pinot Noir.
The producer
Kim Crawford
View all Kim Crawford winesKim Crawford is one of New Zealand's best known wineries, founded in Marlborough in 1996 by Kim and Erica Crawford. Named New World Winery of the Year by Wine Enthusiast in 2016, it has become a byword for vivid, aromatic Marlborough white. Its Sauvignon Blanc is among the most loved in the world.
The winery draws on the largest vineyard resource in Marlborough, spanning the Wairau, Awatere, Blind River, Waihopai and Omaka Valleys. This breadth of sites, and vines up to twenty years old, gives the wines both exuberant fruit and depth. Sustainability is a growing focus, from lightweight bottles to careful long term grower partnerships.
The signature Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is blended from more than two hundred separate parcels for consistency and drive. Above it, the small batch Spitfire draws on intensely flavoured fruit near the wartime airbase at Blenheim. The range is completed by a textural Pinot Gris and a supple Pinot Noir blended across the South Island.
Bright, precise and endlessly refreshing, Kim Crawford's wines capture the very best of Marlborough. They are approachable yet full of character, and they wear their success lightly. This is New Zealand white at its most enjoyable.
