Lawson's Dry Hills

Lawson’s Dry Hills: Pioneer Spirit and Perfect Balance

For over 30 years, this name has stood for character and quality in Marlborough, New Zealand. The winery was founded in 1992 by Ross and Barbara Lawson, who planted their first vines as early as 1982. Just imagine, at that time they even planted Gewürztraminer – which many New Zealanders thought was crazy!

Ross Lawson was a colourful personality: sheep shearer, swimming pool builder, possum hunter, and above all, a visionary in viticulture. He was even one of the fathers of the Screwcap Initiative, which promoted the use of screw caps in New Zealand and left a lasting mark on the wine scene. Following Ross's death in 2009, Lawson's Dry Hills is now managed with the same passion by his long-time companions, Tim and Pauline Evill.
 

"Lawson’s Dry Hills deserves a special mention, making superb white wines in a notable elegant and spare style." – Joanna Simon, Sunday Times UK
 

The Vineyard: Where Marlborough Unfurls Its Magic

Lawson's Dry Hills has access to over 120 hectares of vines, spread across the entire Marlborough region – partly owned by the company, partly by long-term contract growers. This diversity of sites, located in the Wairau, Waihopai, Omaka, and Awatere Valleys, is key to quality. It allows them to always select the best grapes, maintain a consistent style across vintages, and benefit from different soil types and microclimates, which adds extra complexity to the wines. Furthermore, it provides security should one region have less favourable conditions in a particular vintage.

What makes Marlborough so special is its unique terroir. Let's take a closer look at the most important valleys:

• Wairau Valley: Defined by its proximity to the 170 km long Wairau River, this valley offers cooler, drier, barren, and stony sites with clay islands. The wines from here produce tropical notes, passion fruit, and citrus aromas, paired with a juicy, fresh character.
• Southern Valleys: Formed by glacial washouts, clay-rich soils with moderate stone deposits over clay dominate here. The result is low vine vigour, leading to wines with greater concentration and depth of flavour. The stronger temperature fluctuations allow for a longer ripening of the grapes on the vine.
• Awatere Valley: This valley is characterized by silty loams and river terrace soils – free-draining glacial gravel and wind-blown loess over shallow, stony clay. The diverse stone material contributes to the mineral tones in the wines, while the lack of underground water limits vigour and yield, resulting in ripe, intense fruit characters.

The combination of these diverse terroirs, paired with long, clear sunny days and cool nights that extend the ripening, is the secret to the intense aromas and unique variety of Lawson's Dry Hills' Marlborough wines.

The Wines: Passion You Can Taste

A small, dedicated team of 18 people accompanies every step of the winemaking process with great devotion. Senior Winemaker Marcus Wright has been with the company since 2001 and, together with Assistant Winemaker Rebecca Wiffen, ensures the reliably high quality and the distinctive style of the wines. Here, wines with clear provenance and typical varietal characteristics are created – always with that certain something that arises from genuine passion.

These optimal conditions result in characterful wines such as the popular Sauvignon Blanc, whose secret lies in blending grapes from different valleys to achieve a wide range of aromas. Also discover the elegant Rieslings, full-bodied Chardonnays, fine Pinot Gris, and expressive Pinot Noir. A special highlight is the multi-award-winning Gewürztraminer. And as a tip: Seafood pairs simply wonderfully with Lawson's Dry Hills Sauvignon Blanc!

Sustainability: Quality from Responsibility and Pioneer Spirit

If the protection of our environment is important to you, you can enjoy Lawson's Dry Hills wines with complete confidence. Sustainability is at the heart of their actions, and has been for almost two decades, when they were among the pioneers of Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand.

Lawson's Dry Hills is proud to be New Zealand's most certified sustainable wine producer. They are not only independently certified according to ISO14001 (Environmental Management) and ISO14064 (CO₂ Neutrality), but have recently also received the renowned B Corporation certification. This means they belong to the companies that prove that commercial success can go hand in hand with benefiting people, communities, and our planet.

Their commitment is demonstrated in concrete measures:

• Resource Conservation: For the 2023 vintage, they were able to halve their total energy emissions compared to the average of wineries of similar size. They are also exemplary with water, withdrawing 56% less from groundwater through rainwater harvesting than other wineries in their category.
• Sustainable Packaging: They pay close attention to their packaging. Their light bottles are manufactured in New Zealand with at least 64% recycled material, the paper comes from certified, sustainably managed forests, and even the pallet wrap is 100% biodegradable.

This deep environmental awareness is also an expression of the small, dedicated team that takes everything into its own hands. Their autonomy allows them full control and responsibility for every step – and that's precisely what makes sustainability at Lawson's Dry Hills so genuine and tangible.