Handford Wines

James Healy has worked at Cloudy Bay forever and a day. In fact it was his little blue Morris Minor which had a drive-on part in the film about Cloudy Bay in the Sauvignon episode of the Jancis Robinson’s Wine Course tv series. Ivan Sutherland has grown fruit for Cloudy Bay for about as long on 80 hectares (200 acres) near Highfield and Montana’s Brancott estate. And now, with their wives, they have set up a completely new outfit Dog Point from fruit grown on part of the Sutherland vineyard.

The Wine

Dog Point Vineyard combines the considerable winegrowing experience of Ivan Sutherland and James Healy, the former chief viticulturalist and head winemaker at New Zealand's Cloudy Bay. The name Dog Point dates from the earliest European settlement of Marlborough and the introduction of sheep to the district. These were days of few fences, of boundary riders and "boundary keeping dogs". Shepherds' dogs sometimes became lost or wandered off and eventually bred into a marauding pack which attacked local flocks. Their home was a tussock and scrub covered hill, overlooking the Wairau Plains, designated by the early settlers as Dog Point. Grapes are all hand-picked, and, with the exception of the stainless steel made sauvignon, all wines are given extended barrel ageing with minimal racking and handling. It's a non-interventionist, natural, hands-off technique that characterizes all their wines. The 2007 is bright straw green, with a bouquet that mixes fresh citrus and tropical fruits. The palate is rich and full bodied, displaying an excellent balance of fruit and acidity with a lingering fresh lime finish. Recently described in the Press as 'Fantastic grown up Sauvignon Blanc'. Wineanorak.com

Single Bottle: £13.99

In a case of 12: £13.29