Dog Point’s New releases lead the Pack!
10 impeccable Dog Point Wines including…
The already award winning new release 2024 Sauvignon Blanc
4 x Museum Releases
2 of Dog Point's most famous wine - the Section 94 Sauvignon Blanc (2018 & 2011)
Plus, a magnum of the 2019 Sauvignon Blanc
What the Critics are saying…
“One of Marlborough’s brightest stars.”
- Bob Campbell MW
“Partners James Healy (winemaker) and Ivan Sutherland (viticulturist) are justified in having confidence in their wines. I had previously tasted 27 of Dog Point’s wine which earned an average rating of 95 points.”
- Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review Article ‘Dog Point Bares All’, May 2015
“Section 94 is widely regarded as the most distinctive and greatest Sauvignon Blanc being made in New Zealand today.”
- Vintus.com Article ‘James Suckling and Ivan Sutherland Discuss Marlborough and Dog Point Wines’
“A single vineyard at the Dog Point winery in Marlborough highlights the excellence of some parcels of vines in the South Island of New Zealand.”
- James Suckling, James Suckling.com
"This is a global benchmark for sauvignon blanc. 97 Points”
- Halliday Wine Companion on the 2024 Sauvignon Blanc and featured in Halliday’s ‘10 standout wines’ newly rated by the Halliday Tasting Team 2025.
“Sutherland and winemaker James Healy started Dog Point while both were working at Cloudy Bay. Their first vintage was 2002. After 12 years, in which they’ve established themselves as one of the region’s finest producers, they still have only four wines – which indicates how focused they are.”
- Sydney Morning Herald, Good Food – 15 January 2013.
“This 2022 Dog Point Pinot Noir is another benchmark Marlborough Pinot Noir…”
-96 Points - Shanteh Wale, Halliday Wine Companion
Monday 6 October
Hosted by Jak Nash, Global Ambassador
Masterclass: 6.30-8.30pm, 10 Wines with Kate Lamont Canapes, $95
(16 pax. capacity, private backroom event.)
About Dog Point Vineyard
THE VINEYARD
Dog Point Vineyard is New Zealand's largest certified organic vineyard by Biogro NZ. Family owned and one of the oldest privately established vineyards, located on the hill slopes of the Southern Valleys of Marlborough, New Zealand.
They produce four wines including a sauvignon blanc, and three barrel fermented wines using natural (wild) yeasts including a sauvignon blanc fermented in older French oak barrels (Section 94), a chardonnay and a pinot noir.
Wines are vegan, vegetarian and gluten free reflecting our low interventionist ethos and a primary focus is producing wines of uncompromising quality that will cellar well.
Dog Point is one of the oldest privately established vineyards in Marlborough with first plantings in the late 1970s. The vineyard is centrally located at the confluence of the smaller brancott and omaka valleys. This location is widely considered to be a very desirable area for grape growing in the southern valleys of Marlborough.
The property is sensitively planted to sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and pinot noir grown under organic principles. On average our Sauvignon Blanc vines are 25 years old, however the oldest are well over 30 years of age. Section 94, our single vineyard, barrel fermented Sauvignon Blanc vines are 30 years old, and the average vine age for our Chardonnay is 30 years old, with the oldest vines being 40 years old. Our Pinot Noir vines date back to the early 1980s, making some of them approximately 40 years old.
THE NAME
The name Dog Point dates back to the earliest European settlement of Marlborough and the introduction of sheep to the district. These were the days where, due to a lack of fences, boundary riders used boundary keeping dogs to protect the local flocks of sheep. Shepherd's dogs sometimes became lost or wandered off, eventually breeding to form a marauding pack that attacked the same flocks they were meant to be protecting. Over time the settlers were able to remove these wild dogs and the area was named Dog Point. There is now a friendly "pack of dogs" that greet guests at the vineyard.
PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE
Ivan and Margaret Sutherland were among the earliest Marlborough wine industry pioneers who planted grapes in Marlborough in the late 1970s. While working at Cloudy Bay Vineyards, Ivan met James Healy, where the pair played an integral part of the evolution of the Cloudy Bay brand. Discovering they shared the same aspirations, Ivan & Margaret and James & Wendy returned to a more 'hands-on' approach launching the Dog Point label in 2004 using fruit from the 2002 vintage. Today, with succession plans in place, the next generation of the Sutherland family are now running the day to day operations.
Jak Nash – Our Host
Jak comes from an experienced sales and distribution background and until recently has worked with our Australian distributor red+white on the Sunshine Coast, where he worked and built up the Dog Point Vineyard brand with great success.
Jak is currently in New Zealand helping in the winery with harvest and will be based in Australia for the next 12 months, before relocating to London where he can assist our distributors and customers in that part of the world. (Dog Point Vineyard)
The Wines
First Bracket
2024 Sauvignon Blanc
A washing line of fresh linen, spring daisies and gently waving buffalo grass. There is lemon posset, limestone, chalk and grapefruit skin. Citrus and white stone fruit flavours centre deeply in the mid-palate, with a tantalising amount of fresh fruit sweetness and cascading and yet tapered acidity. This is just a top-notch white wine, full stop. Detailed, layered and moreish in every sense of the word. Close your eyes and take in the pretty aromas, taste the sandy dry mineral tones, consider the palate length and quality and you know you can only be drinking Dog Point from their esteemed Wairau sites in Marlborough. The savoury cream tones add further complexity and finesse. This is a global benchmark for sauvignon blanc. Drink to: 2030.
97 points and Special Value Wine Shanteh Wale, Halliday Wine Companion
2019 Sauvignon Blanc Magnum
Intense, precise sauvignon blanc with grapefruit, citrus, subtle passionfruit and a suggestion of struck flint character. A powerful wine that’s long and linear, with strong varietal definition that’s made more interesting with a hint of reductive character.
95 points - Bob Campbell, The Real Review
Second Bracket
2020 Section 94 Sauvignon Blanc
Layers of crushed stones, smoked almonds, green apples, lemon pith, white pepper, licorice and oyster shells. It's so powerful and concentrated. Tightly wound and phenolic with a medium body and sharp acidity. Intense, and just keeps going. Always a sophisticated and complex sauvignon blanc. From organically grown grapes.
95 Points, James Suckling, jamessuckling.com (October 2022)
2018 Section 94 Sauvignon Blanc
Intense, oak-matured sauvignon blanc with lemongrass, oyster shell, ginger, spicy oak and nutty yeast lees flavours. Bright, complex and satisfying wine that takes Marlborough sauvignon to a different level. 14 Sep 2023 Drink 2023–2027
96 points Bob Campbell MW therealreview.com
#1 of 171 2018 Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough
2011 Section 94 Sauvignon Blanc
Gun to the head and/or desert island wine for best NZ sauvignon blanc, this would generally be it. Use of oak and lees not taken to heightened levels of trumpeting overtness, but judicious, has been the theme. So many have followed looking for the golden ticket, equating the extra winemaking as helping to make a more premium wine. Not so if you don’t firstly have the fruit, and secondly the deft touch. Cue, James and Ivan. And then saying that there’s a distinctly struck match-meets-nutty/cedary oak quality taking over the bouquet, but it’s metered with stone fruit and floral aromas too. To taste, tight, tense and structured, with a flow of fresh fruitiness bound by briny minerality and more struck match/twigginess finishing with a barely-there nuttiness. It’s a bit shy right now, and time in glass gives some more body, but 2011 looks to be a more austere version of this wine than I’ve seen. There’s still grace and immense interest – it’s delicious and mouthwatering by each sip. Time will be kind too. Super.
94 Points - Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
Third Bracket
Dog Point Chardonnay 2023
2022 Chardonnay
Some enticing theatre popcorn, sparkler flint and lemon candies. Peach pit meets yellow plums and buttered crumpets. Subtle walnut skin and powdered nutmeg. Where some chardonnays may be released too early or late, the release timing of Dog Point is always premeditated and this is in a very sweet spot. It's a wealth of lemon skin zest, squeezed pineapple slices and the fine sandpaper texture that has you reaching for a lobster trap. This also has the ability to be a bit of a chameleon, adapting well to fatty fried foods and sharp cheese equally well. A stellar vintage of their iconic chardonnay.
96 Points - Shanteh Wale, Halliday Wine Companion (July 2025)
2014 Chardonnay
Another sensational wine is the 2014 Chardonnay, which spent 18 months in 20% new oak. Citrus rind, white flowers, and flinty minerality all give way to a pure, precise, incredibly refined Chardonnay that has medium-bodied depth and richness, integrated acidity, and a great finish. Don’t miss this beauty.
95 Points - Jeb Dunnuck
A wine that pulls no punches, this is an inspired take on modern, complex chardonnay. It offers up gun metal, flinty lemons and spicy poached pears as well as peach fruits on the nose with a strident dose of stylish oak for good measure. The palate's both rich and refreshing, delivering a wealth of nut-flecked peach-fruit flavors and a satisfyingly fleshy texture."
94 Points - James Suckling, jamesuckling.com
Fourth Bracket
2022 Pinot Noir
The '22 vintage wasn’t particularly easy, but the intent and meticulous attention of viticulturists shines bright in the best wines. The '22 is on fire, with cherry compote, blue plum skin and rhubarb stem. The selected 25% whole bunch adds just the right amount of sinewy, woodsy herbs backed by savoury potting clay and tree bark. Red lingonberries pop like caviar on the mid-palate and the staying power of graceful but astute tannins is why this wine will age like a dream. This is built for almost any medium rare meat you can throw at it – lamb, game or grass-fed beef. It's a wine for the very best crystal and only the best of friends for company. Stunning.
96 Points - Shanteh Wale, Halliday Wine Companion (July 2025)
2014 Pinot Noir
Plenty of depth to this 2014 Dog Point pinot; it's a boldly stated and concentrated pinot with plenty of detail and interest on offer. The oak delivers plenty of spicy, mocha-tinged complexity, but the rich red cherries and plums shine through effortlessly. The palate exudes the same confident swagger as the nose, but it's the tannin texture that shines here. Handsome, grainy and long, this carries ripe dark plums and cherry fruit throughout in an expansive yet balanced style. Has all you want in a great pinot. Drink now to 2026.
96 Points - James Suckling, jamesuckling.com