Lake Chalice Skye Sauvignon Blanc 2026
£10.95
The wine
A lighter style of Sauvignon Blanc packed with vibrant aromas of tropical fruit, gooseberry and citrus, with a fresh and juicy palate finishing on a zesty lime note. At 9.5% it is a genuinely lighter option without giving up the Marlborough character.
At 9.5 per cent this is a deliberately lighter style, achieved by picking earlier rather than by removing alcohol afterwards. Marlborough's long, cool ripening season means the grapes develop their passion fruit and gooseberry aromatics well before sugar levels climb, which is precisely what makes a wine like this possible here and difficult elsewhere.
The producer
Lake Chalice
View all Lake Chalice winesLake Chalice was established in 1989, early in Marlborough's history, with the aim of making internationally recognised wine from the heart of the region. The estate's three vineyards lie in the Wairau and upper Awatere valleys, the two river systems that define Marlborough and that ripen quite differently from one another.
New Zealand's native falcon, the kārearea, appears on every bottle. It is a threatened bird, faster than a peregrine over short distances, and it favours the remote foothills where these vineyards sit. Some Marlborough growers have encouraged falcons back into the vines deliberately, since they keep smaller birds off ripening fruit far more effectively than netting.
The range is tiered by the falcon's life stages, which makes it unusually easy to navigate: The Nest for the everyday wines, then The Falcon, then The Raptor for the single-vineyard bottlings, and Plume at the top. Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc runs through all of it, alongside Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and a little Riesling.
