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Welcome to the Whitehaven e-cellar door

Quality Marlborough wines

Focused on the philosophy of pursuing quality without compromise, our winemaking team has a singular vision of consistently creating premium wines from 100% Marlborough fruit, in the classic Marlborough style. This principle underpins our entire winemaking cycle from the vineyard to the bottle.

With vineyards in all three of Marlborough’s sub-regions our winemakers take advantage of sub-regional diversity and Marlborough’s exceptional terroir, combined with contemporary winemaking and traditional craftsmanship, to create a diverse range of award winning wines headed by our flagship Sauvignon Blanc.

Whitehaven is a member of Appellation Marlborough Wine (AMW), an incorporated society with the goal of protecting the integrity and authenticity of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. To carry the AMW brand marque on our labels, our wines must be: produced from 100% Marlborough fruit; bottled in New Zealand; made from grapes cropped at or below set parameters and in carefully managed vineyards; and produced sustainably from vineyards that are SWNZ certified.

Whitehaven's history

Established in Marlborough in 1994 by Greg and Sue White, the name 'Whitehaven' was chosen for the importance of family, and memorialising the calm port ‘haven’ they had found in the Marlborough Sounds while on their sailing journey around the Pacific. Shedding their corporate business suits in the early 1990's, the pair had set sail from Auckland on a 48-foot yacht named Chanticleer and embarked on a two year adventure at sea. Their daughter Samantha would spend the first six months of her life on board the yacht.

Sheltering from the Pacific hurricane season, Greg, Sue and Samantha ended up back in New Zealand, in the beautiful waters of the Marlborough Sounds. They fell in love with the beauty of the region and decided that a Marlborough winery was the sort of project to see them return to dry land.

The distinctive anchor insignia seen on the Whitehaven label connects Whitehaven to its nautical beginnings and is a marque of the wine label’s quality, consistency and integrity.

Today Whitehaven remains proudly family owned and is headed by Sue who continues the dream she and her late husband Greg shared. In 2020 their daughter Samantha joined the family business, along with her husband Josh Barclay, to follow in Sue and Greg's footsteps and continue the family vision.

Reviews

2020 Whitehaven Pinot Noir

"Youthful bouquet with a core of red berry fruits and raspberry, some mineral and French oak spice scents of vanilla and cedar. Youthful, vibrant, fresh and varietal. On the palate - equally fruity at the core with flavours that reflect the bouquet, plus plum and a wet rocky mineral quality. Crunchy and refreshing acid line along with ripe tannins add structure and texture leading to a lovely mouthfeel combination of wood, fruit and a sense of place and time. Well made and ready to drink from mid 2022 through 2028."

93/100 Points, Excellent - Cameron Douglas, MS

2021 Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc

"This is splendidly fruited and instantly appealing with feijoa, passionfruit, jalapeno and lime zest aromas on the nose, followed by a concentrated palate offering impressive fruit power and persistency. Bright, juicy and flavoursome with a lengthy delicious finish"

5 Stars - Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, NZ

2021 Whitehaven Noble Riesling

"Delicious in its infancy, Whitehaven Marlborough Noble Riesling 2021 is a single-vineyard wine, from grapes shrivelled by Botrytis cinerea (‘noble rot’). Bright, light lemon/green, it is richly scented and vibrantly fruity, with intense, peachy, citrusy, slightly honeyed flavours and a finely poised, sweet (186 grams/litre of residual sugar), crisp finish. Still very youthful, it's well worth cellaring, but already hard to resist."

5 Stars - Michael Cooper, NZ