The Graduates is a modern Marlborough wine project born from collaboration, curiosity, and a shared commitment to craft. Created by a group of emerging winemakers — each with their own roots in New Zealand viticulture — the label reflects a new generation’s take on classic varieties. The name itself is a nod to the founders’ shared beginnings in wine education, but the wines go beyond textbook: they’re shaped by instinct, regional clarity, and a quiet confidence in the vineyards they come from.

Fruit is sourced from carefully selected parcels across Marlborough’s subregions, particularly the Wairau and Awatere Valleys, where stony soils, coastal winds, and wide diurnal shifts provide structure and lift. The growers work closely with the winemaking team, favoring sustainable and low-intervention farming. Harvests are timed for balance — not just ripeness, but acidity, phenolic expression, and aromatic precision.

In the cellar, the process is guided by restraint. Sauvignon Blanc is fermented mostly in stainless steel, with occasional lees stirring and partial fermentation in neutral vessels to enhance texture. Pinot Noir is wild-fermented in small batches, aged in seasoned French oak to allow the fruit and site to remain front and center. The result is wines that are fresh and focused, with just enough edge to make them unmistakably of-the-moment.

The wines are crisp, expressive, and quietly textural. Sauvignon Blanc is driven by citrus peel, passionfruit skin, and flint — more saline than sweet, more mineral than overtly tropical. Pinot Noir is lithe and lifted, with red cherry, forest floor, and fine-grained tannins. Both are crafted with balance in mind: bright, drinkable now, but layered enough to linger.

What defines The Graduates is a sense of grounded momentum — a label that looks forward without losing sight of place or purpose.

These are wines shaped by people still close to the vine and to the craft — direct, thoughtful, and guided more by clarity than convention.