Winemaker Q&A: Jane Hunter
Jane Hunter: ‘Sauvignon Blanc opens doors’Tell us a bit about vintage 2026. We had an absolutely fantastic autumn. In Marlborough that is where we get our lovely depths of fruit flavour and our nice balanced acidity in our grapes. We picked quite late – we didn't start until March for even sparkling wine grapes. The wines that we are starting to blend and put together and to bottle are looking superb. As usual, Sauvignon Blanc's a star; it came in very quickly, very easy to put a blend together.
In 1986, Hunter’s Fumé Blanc made history at the Sunday Times Vintage Wine Festival in London. This year, the Hunter’s Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2025 was named ‘best wine from New Zealand’ at the Frankfurt International Tasting Competition. What inspires you to keep setting that standard? It backs our story that all along – even Ernie, my late husband – our aim was always to make quality wines. That's what we're here for, to make high-quality wines that we are proud of. We always said, “If it's my name on the bottle, the quality inside is very important.”
We don't want to put out into the market wines that we're not proud of. We have had years when we haven't made a variety – for example, an oak-aged Sauvignon Blanc in 1995, which was a very challenging year! To still be getting gold medals 40 years on I think it’s an absolutely amazing record.
Any anecdotes you can share about the impact your wines have had? A man who used to do a farm report on the BBC wanted to come and visit a few wineries while he was in Marlborough. We had the Fumé Blanc and then we had our oak-aged Sauvignon Blanc. And he said to me, “Oaked Sauvignon Blanc, terrible stuff. I don't even know why you'd waste your time doing it.” I said that's a bit unfair because the light oak just softened it out a little on the palate. So he tried it. And he said, “I don’t often apologise, Jane, but I’m going to apologise and say I’m really, really pleased that you insisted I try this wine.
What have you been most proud of over that time? One: that we're still here. Another thing I really am proud of is that we have maintained some relationships for the distribution of our wine for 40 years – smaller companies that are moving to the next generation as we move to the next generation. It's that loyalty that I'm most proud of. In terms of me personally, being placed in the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame was an amazing acknowledgement of what has been achieved by a small winery in Marlborough. It was just absolutely outstanding.
What do you hope people experience when they drink your wines? I hope it reminds them of either having been here or suddenly makes them think they want to know more about the wine and want to come here.
What is the one thing everyone should know about Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc? Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is so different. It's so vibrant. If people haven't tasted it before, you only have to open the bottle and that nose, the smell, it just comes out and reminds people of summer. It's lively, it's fresh, it's fruity. Across the board, Sauvignon Blancs from Marlborough just astound people.
What excites you most about the future of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc? I've just been to Hong Kong and I was staggered. There’s interest still in Marlborough and in Sauvignon Blanc, and I think it's because of that uniqueness and individuality that we still have places to take it. We've still got people to bring to the table and show them what a great wine it is and how versatile it is. The future is certainly going to be different, and it is going to be challenging, but we've got opportunities and Sauvignon Blanc opens doors for us to make the most of those.