Marlborough Wine
This brand is the identity for our wine industry – the Marlborough wine industry.
It is something that growers and makers can own and use to help promote their offering. A way to have a larger voice and footprint as a collective group of brands that share this one commonality – the true Marlborough wine brand.
A brand’s mission, vision and values work together to build a solid foundation. They’re deeply intertwined and serve as a compass with your vision and mission as the guiding rationale, below, we walk you through these elements that have helped shape the brand guidelines and assets we make available to you in the link below.
Scroll down to the form below or click here to request access to our brand toolkit.
These guidelines have been created by Wine Marlborough Ltd for the Marlborough Wine industry. Wine Marlborough Ltd is the trading name of the Marlborough Winegrowers Association, representing the Marlborough wine region. This toolkit has been developed to ensure the Marlborough Wine brand assets are used with consistency and confidence. By accessing these assets we are trusting you to use them appropriately, following our brand guidelines, to present a strong and aligned message. Wine Marlborough reserves the right to withdraw use permission at any time. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns relating to the use of the Marlborough Wine brand.
SHARED MISSION
With energy we cultivate, connect and aspire to elevate the quality and reputation of Marlborough’s premium wine industry, its people and its place.
SHARED VISION
Forever earn our place in the hearts of our people, through our shared commitment to excellence, our care for our place and its people, our drive to be experiential and do better, and our respect for the stories that make us who we are.
Our Shared Values
Our values are our behavioural guidance in pursuing our mission and vision.
These are the principles and beliefs that provide a cohesive vision and define who we are – our purpose and direction – they set the tone for all brand interactions.
Embrace INNOVATION
We know innovation is found in the spaces between the people that came before us and the people yet to come, uncertainty and clarity, relaxation and sophistication, premium and value, surprise and reliability… and we thrive here, in our embrace of who we really are. Nothing stands still, we are transient in our discovery and centred in our place. We aren’t afraid to lead the way.
Share in CONNECTIVITY
The nuances and relationships between our people and place bring our brand to life. We acknowledge all perspectives, but have clarity on our shared values that define who we are and what we stand for. We act with courage, welcome new ideas, challenge the status quo and hero our diversity, in our people, in our wine and in our place. We lift one another up by building connected communities that offer genuine support and not shying away from difficult conversations that help us thrive.
Share EXCELLENCE
We believe in living up to the true value in our name. We have a history and reputation for quality underpinning who we are and what we do. Every action strives to live up to, if not raise, those standards. Quality is connected to everything we touch. We share this quality with the world.
Enveloped in ENERGY
We show up with a drive and a sense of energy pushing us forward. We are excited for the future. It is energy that drives us. With one sip, people can tell a variety of wine is from Marlborough because there is something special and unique about the place we call home. We are present, active, full of life and invested in our communities, for innovation, for quality and for our place – Marlborough.
OUR PERSONALITY
Marlborough wine is dynamic, gregarious, lively, approachable, and aspirational - but we are not overbearing.
We are sophisticated, contemporary and fresh with a vivacious magnetism to us. We exude a casual yet energetic elegance. We are confident and intelligent, but not overconfident, nor do we show off.
We know who we are and why we are here - and we want to share our love of wine, food and place with our people - next door and across the world.
We evoke excitement and innovate - we are not bound by tradition, yet it grounds us. We are generous with our time and our spirit and build lasting relationships. People want to ‘meet’ us over and again. And they will because we are progressive pioneers and it is this that allows our stories to keep being created - to transcend time, evolve and grow and be shared for generations and centuries to come.
Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is the gateway from which we explore other varieties – Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Riesling – and show our range. It is the wine we can always lean on.
How we talk - Our tone of voice
With this brand there is a feeling of balance – a harmony between contradictions and multiple truths. Of scale and artisanal production, where clarity and complexity collide. Where sophistication meets a relaxed essence, local meets global, where energy and life meet fresh clarity, where fun meets tranquillity and sustainability meets growth. We have diverse audiences that will see messages sway to meet the information needs of consumers and businesses. While these complexities in brand are in play, our tone of voice remains constant.
We are authentically sincere. While we are proud of our industry, we are matter of fact and tell our story without embellishment. We own the truth and are authentic in our messaging.
We are proud of our place, people and our wine. We know our worth and want others to feel proud of what we have achieved too, because they have been part of our success and been on the journey with us. We are proud without being arrogant. There is a warm, down-to-earth vibe to us. We are sincere but not reserved in our communication.
We are warm and not too serious. There is life in our brand. An energy. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, but are genuine in our communication. We don’t play down the expertise and skill of our craftspeople, but describe it in a way accessible to everyone.
We are considered. We get to the point and allow brand photography to do the talking. Copy should complement and enhance this rather than doubling up on the effect of visuals. This approach should be applied in all visual storytelling.
Our communication is informed and mindful of the recipient’s information needs. Believability builds trust and trust builds ambassadorship and loyalty. Technical detail isn’t needed to share our brand essence, but we use it to meet the needs of some audiences.
We are mindful and respectful. We are connected with one another and respect our individual journeys. We don’t shy away from difficult conversations - we are considerate and accepting of the multiple truths in our industry.
Our Stories
Guided by our values and personality – the essence of who we are as Marlborough Wine – we as an industry share our message through our collective voices, through our many brands and their touch points, to build a cohesive narrative across all audiences of the Marlborough Wine brand.
Marlborough wine is the perfect fusion of people, place, passion and perseverance.
We were the first to put New Zealand wine on the world map - and we continue to define it. Fearless and forward-looking, our makers push boundaries while perfecting what they do vintage after vintage. They produce wines that are impossible to imitate, hard not to love and filled with a palpable sense of place.
Lit by Kei Puta Te Wairau (the hole in the cloud) and cradled by protective mountain ranges and the fresh coastal breezes, our place is like no other. We respect our duty to guard it, just as it guards us.
From this place, our Sauvignon Blanc was defined. Pure, vibrant and impossible to replicate, its intensity and clarity have rightly earned it a place on the world stage. The respect and care of our people have kept it there.
This is Marlborough. And we're just getting started.
MESSAGING PILLARS
Below are the pillars which flow from our brand story - they are what ground us, provide meaning to our beliefs, our ways of life, our purpose.
01 Home
Marlborough is where we’re grounded – rooted in our industry, inspired to innovate, and deeply connected to our land, community, and those who came before us. It’s our foundation and our home. There is history in the places where our vines stand. From the glacial imprints to the pioneering spirit of those that came before.
We honour the guardians of this land and the generations who shaped our region. Their legacy lives in what we share with the world – our crisp, pure Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, where a sense of place is felt in every step and every sip.
02 Place
For generations, the land has given us protective ranges, pure waters, and brilliant light. We honour this by caring for it, ensuring it flourishes for those who follow. Papatūānuku provides, and we give back – sustaining our land, people, and communities now and into the future.
Our natural environment is a significant force in our wine. Our place is a perfect nexus of the most ideal wine-growing conditions. These pure conditions have earned Marlborough global recognition, especially for Sauvignon Blanc, alongside other distinctive varieties. In every bottle, you are transported to the place where the grapes were meticulously nurtured, picked and crafted with excellence into wine.
We are committed to world-class sustainability and protecting and improving Marlborough, our home and our quality wines. That is why 97% percent of Marlborough’s producing vineyard area is certified by Sustainable Winegrowing NZ™ - a widely recognised world-leading sustainability programme.
03 People
There is an inescapable magnetism for the industry that draws in a melting pot of culture, passion and knowledge from all corners of the world.
Globally, there is immense respect for the craft of Marlborough wine, which is confidently passed on not just down through generations, but across regions and the globe as people come to learn from us and give back to our wine.
The people of Marlborough wine are guardians of their craft – preserving it by sharing it. The legacy of pioneers, innovators, and caretakers of the lives on in a palpable energy – honouring those before us and inspiring those still to come.
04 Spirited
Vibrancy sits between quality and boundary-pushing – alive, warm, and magnetic. Genuine connections between our people strengthen the industry, growing it forward together. Community is thriving.
There is more to our region than wine, but wine is an important part of the narrative. It contributes to the success of the region and provides opportunities for our people and partner industries to thrive.
05 Distinctive
Sauvignon Blanc put us on the world stage, and we continue to prove our place there. It has shaped a legacy of premium wine across our subregions, each sip deepening appreciation for Marlborough.
A Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is a sophisticated wine that cannot be replicated. Its premium purity and flavour intensity have rightly earned its place on the world stage – the respect and care of our producers have kept it there.
It is our anchor. The wine that brought the world to Marlborough. Alongside it, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Riesling have long been part of the region. Grown in smaller parcels, in sites chosen for their expression, they carry the same purity and intensity, with stories still unfolding.
Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is impossible to imitate. It is the one you pick to impress, the one you pick that brings joy to the occasion and enlivens palates and sense. It is the one you choose above all others – worldly, accomplished, and unmatched.
06 Driven
Everything is moving forward – we honour how far we’ve come while refusing to stand still. Innovation runs deep, driving us to explore, evolve, and push wine further.
There is a collective energy – curious, collaborative, and unbound by size or tradition.
In Marlborough, innovation is not bound by tradition; it is where ingenuity takes flight as our dynamic industry plays and builds on what has come before. Where innovation breathes life into every glass.
Even in the familiar, there is always something new to discover and appreciate.
07 Diverse
Where complexity meets simplicity, creating a fresh appreciation for Marlborough wine.
We move beyond simple connections – embracing different perspectives while grounding ourselves in shared values to shape what’s next.
We lift one another up by building communities that offer genuine support and not shying away from difficult conversations. We know innovation is found in the spaces between the people that came before us and the people yet to come, uncertainty and clarity, relaxation and sophistication, premium and value, surprise and reliability.
While many people come for Sauvignon Blanc, they discover more – variety, stories, and wines for every occasion.
08 Surprising
Marlborough – where the New Zealand wine experience comes alive and surprises you. It excites you, energises you, and awakens a sense of possibility that lingers long after the glass is empty.
Beyond the expected lies a landscape of contrast and clarity – sun-drenched vineyards set between mountain ranges and the sea, where cool nights and long, bright days shape wines of intensity and precision. There is a purity here, in the air, the light, the water, that carries through into every experience.
Marlborough is a place of discovery. From cellar doors tucked among vines to world-class cuisine shaped by the land and ocean, each moment reveals something new. The rhythm is unhurried yet alive – cruising the Marlborough Sounds, cycling between wineries, tasting, talking, connecting.
What begins with wine unfolds into something more expansive. What starts with Sauvignon Blanc carries into your weekend, your holiday, your future plans. Nature, people, and place converge to create a region that is both grounded and unexpected – familiar yet full of surprise, inviting you to explore just a little further.
OUR SUBREGIONS
Marlborough’s natural environment is a significant factor in the success of our wines. We have three main grape-growing regions – Wairau Valley, the Southern Valleys and Awatere and Southern Marlborough.
Wairau Valley
The heart of Marlborough wine. Sheltered by mountains and blessed with some of New Zealand's longest sunshine hours, the Wairau Valley is home to around half of all the region's vineyards - and many of its most loved cellar doors.
The valley floor is a patchwork of stony river soils fed by the 170km Wairau River as it winds its way to Cloudy Bay. The free-draining, gravelly soils and long warm days produce generous, vibrant wines - citrus, stone fruit, passionfruit - classic Marlborough at its most expressive. Many of the families who planted here in the late 1970s and 1980s are still making wine today, and their stories are as rich as the soils beneath their vines. Alongside Sauvignon Blanc, the valley is also home to Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir
Southern Valleys
This is where it all began. The Southern Valleys - Brancott, Omaka, Fairhall, Waihopai and Ben Morven - spread like fingers across a rolling landscape just over the Wither Hills, covering around a fifth of Marlborough's total vineyards. It was here, in Brancott Valley, that the first commercial Sauvignon Blanc vines went into Marlborough soil in 1973 - the vines that started it all.
The soils here are older and richer in clay, shaped by ancient glaciers, and the cooler hillside climate draws out wines with more weight and texture than the valley floor below. Sauvignon Blanc from the Southern Valleys is richer and more structured, with beautiful citrus and stone fruit that lingers. Chardonnay thrives here too, producing wines of real intensity and complexity. And Pinot Noir finds a natural home on the north-facing slopes, with dark cherry, plum and a spiced earthiness that speaks unmistakably of place.
Awatere Valley and South Marlborough
Marlborough's most dramatic subregion is also its most distinctive, accounting for just over a quarter of the region's vineyards. Cooler, drier and windier than anywhere else in the region, the Awatere Valley and surrounding areas sit closer to the Pacific Coast, flanked by the snow-capped peaks of the Inland Kaikōura Range.
Sauvignon Blanc from this region is grassier and greener, with fresh herb characteristics and sometimes a stony minerality - think basil, tomato leaf and a briny, savoury edge. The long, slow ripening season intensifies every flavour and preserves natural acidity, producing wines that are leaner and more precise than the Wairau Valley, but no less compelling. This is Marlborough at its most elemental and our signature varieties also thrive here too and is a particularly special place for aromatics.
SAUVIGNON BLANC
Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is the wine the world looks to as the defining expression of the style. It is shaped by place, crafted by people, recognised by the world and is evolving with energy, intent and ambition. Sauvignon Blanc is the beginning of the story.
INDUSTRY
Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is the clearest expression of what Marlborough does better than anywhere else in the world: purity, intensity, precision, and innovation shaped by place.
This is the wine that built an industry, anchored a nation’s reputation for wine, and continues to lead in the most competitive global markets. Our expression of Sauvignon Blanc evolves with every vintage, every place, and every decision of the people who shape it. This is our story.
CONSUMER
There’s a reason Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc tastes like Marlborough in New Zealand.
It’s the sunlight. The cool nights. The ocean air. The people behind every bottle. It’s a wine that feels alive and bright, fresh and unmistakable.
Loved all over the world and at home in Marlborough. Marlborough is what makes it. Every glass starts here.
CONSUMER
Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is recognisable from the first sip. Trusted for its quality. Sought after for its freshness and precision. Made for sharing.
For the world’s most iconic Sauvignon Blanc, there is only one origin.
Marlborough.
EMERGING AUDIENCE
Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc isn't just a wine. It's a moment. A mood. A story you can be part of.
It's the wine the world fell in love with, made by people who set out to make the best. And still defining what Sauvignon Blanc can be. Driven by what matters - the quality, the land, the care behind every bottle. A legacy they carry forward by making something worth sharing.
Dependable enough to always deliver. Exciting enough to keep surprising you.
Bring it to the table, the beach, the spontaneous Sunday. Your first choice for sharing, whatever the occasion.
This is Marlborough. And it's yours to discover.
GLOBAL TRADE & MEDIA
The Marlborough region in New Zealand has defined what Sauvignon Blanc is and what it can be. And it continues to lead through excellence in quality, consistency and progression. This is the world's favourite Sauvignon Blanc. And the best is yet to come.
Marlborough consistently delivers recognisable quality and ongoing innovation. Sauvignon Blanc is not just Marlborough’s signature. It is the category leader.
And it continues to set the pace for the world.
NATIONAL
Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is fresh, vibrant and unmistakable. A style the rest of the world tries to replicate, but never quite can.
Marlborough is a constant in a world of choices. You can trust your choice in a wine variety that keeps evolving and growing with you. From world-leading sustainable practices to lighter styles and new expressions, this is a region that innovates.
When you choose Marlborough, you’re choosing something proven, trusted, and distinctly ours.
NEW CONSUMERS
If you're new to wine, start somewhere worth it. Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Loved the world over and still full of surprises.
LOCAL COMMUNITY
Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc didn’t happen by accident.
It’s the result of bold decisions, hard work and a connection with the land.
It was built by people who believed in this place before the world knew its name. Families, businesses and a community that backed something bold and made it happen.
Today our name is on bottles in the world's best restaurants, bars and hotels and your wine rack at home. That's an achievement that belongs to all of us.
It's woven into who we are. into the land we tend, the community we share and the future we're building together.
This is more than wine. It's our home, shared with the world.
Tagline option: Because this isn’t just wine. It’s our home, shared with the world
Our belief changed Marlborough forever.
That this place would be world-famous for wine.
Not hope. Belief grounded in what this land could do. Belief that changed everything.
The light here is extraordinary. The nights cool and crisp. Mountains shelter and ocean air moves through. Here, Sauvignon Blanc found its voice. Pure, vibrant and unmistakably Marlborough.
We didn't follow a style. We defined one. And the world recognised it.
In a market full of options, our origin continues to cut through because no other place on earth makes wine like this.
It lives in the people who know exactly what this place can do. The result is wines charged with energy, shaped by place and impossible to replicate.
Every vintage proves it again. This is where Sauvignon Blanc comes to life, and still tastes unmistakably Marlborough.
MarlboroughNZ
MarlboroughNZ
Winery recruitment campaign. Photo: Richard Briggs
