It's ripe and gently fruity on the nose showing dark cherry and plum characters, nicely supported by subtle spice/game complexity. The palate is juicy and fleshy with lovely smooth texture and fine-grained tannins. It's youthful yet flows beautifully to a lingering finish. At its best: now to 2015. Sam Kim, Wine Orbit 30 years ago Matua Valley Wines produced the first New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, starting a wine style that is today respected around the world. Matua Valley Wines began as a hands-on, family-run boutique winery, established by Ross and Bill Spence. Like many of New Zealand’s original winemakers, the brothers came from a Croatian winemaking family. Their vision was to revolutionise the still fledging New Zealand wine industry, taking advantage of unique regional qualities to create innovative and distinguished wines – the kind they wanted to drink themselves. They succeeded, beyond their wildest dreams. Today, their wines are acclaimed and highly sought after throughout the world.