Dog Point Vineyards is the joint venture of the Sutherland and Healy families; Ivan Sutherland and James Healy working together beforehand at Cloudy Bay. They established Dog Point in 2004 with wines they made in the 2002 vintage, but it is with the 2004 vintage wines that they count as their first truly vintage they could commercialise. This is definitely the incorrect word to describe the Dog Point wine production, as the wines in my opinion are very distinctive and show great sophistication that puts them at the cutting edge of the modern Marlborough style. Their predilection for funky complexity, superb textures, and fruit intensity and definition make them some of the region’s most interesting wines, which has attracted followers internationally as well as domestically.
One can’t help but draw comparisons with the Greywacke wines of Kevin Judd, who Ivan and James worked closely with at Cloudy Bay; in fact, Kevin’s wines are made at the Dog Point winery, but there are very clear differences. To me, the Greywacke wines have a richness that makes them immediately appealing, whereas the Dog Point wines are generally taut and designed to age, revealing their full character with bottle age. They are intellectual wines for sure, and they can demonstrate minerality very clearly, but they too are extremely appealing and satisfying on a sensual scale.
Here, I review the latest Dog Point releases, the 2018 Sauvignon Blanc, and the three ‘barrel’ wines from the 2016 vintage, the ‘Section 94’ Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. These are all certified BioGro organic. Dog Point now own and operate the largest organically certified vineyard area in New Zealand with around 200 ha. www.dogpoint.co.nz
