Information Density: Astrolabe Wines – Signal Evidence & AI Readability

[H2] Vineyards

2025 Astrolabe Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc
$28.00

The Farm
Marlborough, New Zealand

Comelybank
Marlborough, New Zealand

Lone Gum Cottage
Marlborough, New Zealand

Kilravock
Marlborough, New Zealand

Wrekin
Marlborough, New Zealand

Trelawne
Marlborough, New Zealand

Long Lane
Marlborough, New Zealand

Little Oasis
Marlborough, New Zealand

Sleepers
Marlborough, New Zealand

Taihoa
Marlborough, New Zealand

The Farm

“I choose to live and work in Marlborough because I believe the grapes here are the best in the world. I use all my skills and experience to style wines with elegance and balance that capture the intensity and brightness of our fruit. The diverse terroir of Marlborough’s sub-regions broadens my palette as a winemaker to craft complex and individual wines.” — Simon Waghorn, Winemaker

[H2] The Farm

2025 Astrolabe Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc
$28.00

[H1] Vineyards

[H3] The Farm

[H3] Comelybank

[H3] Lone Gum Cottage

[H3] Kilravock

[H3] Wrekin

[H3] Trelawne

[H3] Long Lane

[H3] Little Oasis

[H3] Sleepers

[H3] Taihoa

[H3] Marlborough

01 The Farm

02 Comelybank

03 Lone Gum Cottage

04 Kilravock

05 Wrekin

06 Trelawne

07 Long Lane

08 Little Oasis

09 Sleepers

10 Taihoa

[H2] Philosophy

[H1] Family

“Our family has grown up in the wine industry. Our daughters were born in three different winegrowing regions as Simon made wine in the Barossa Valley, Waikato and Gisborne. Having grown up alongside Astrolabe, my daughters Libby and Arabella have returned to Marlborough, and today two generations work together. We live in a 100-year-old house on our Farm Vineyard and practice living on the land gently. Being family owned and operated colours everything we do and gives us the freedom to produce wines of uncompromising quality with a dedication to our house style.”
Jane Forrest-Waghorn

“Our family has grown up in the wine industry. Our daughters were born in three different winegrowing regions as Simon made wine in the Barossa Valley, Waikato and Gisborne. Having grown up alongside Astrolabe, my daughters Libby and Arabella have returned to Marlborough, and today two generations work together. We live in a 100-year-old house on our Farm Vineyard and practice living on the land gently. Being family owned and operated colours everything we do and gives us the freedom to produce wines of uncompromising quality with a dedication to our house style.”
Jane Forrest-Waghorn

Growers All grapes are sourced from ten families who live on their land and farm sustainably. Many of the relationships we have with our growers are more than twenty years old. We work with dedicated growers who understand the rhythms of the land and know how to grow grapes that express the terroir. These sites are spread across the Marlborough sub-regions, giving a diversity of soil profile and mesoclimate. Each vineyard was chosen for the distinctive flavour it produces.

WinemakerSimon Waghorn has been honing his craft over four decades and has established a benchmark style of sauvignon blanc that reflects an unparalleled diversity of vineyard sources. Careful site selection, expert picking decisions, delicate fruit handling and astute blending are the hallmarks of his Marlborough wines. Simon’s personal style defines an Astrolabe wine — focused, balanced and elegant. Simon crafts a range of beautiful wines that express the purity and intensity of fruit flavours afforded by the climate and soils of the Marlborough region.

Our NameAn astrolabe is an ancient astronomical instrument that was used to make a diverse range of calculations. Its name translates as ‘star-taker’. A mariner’s astrolabe, modified for use upon a ship, was used by early navigators to determine latitude by measuring the altitude of a celestial object. French explorer Dumont d’Urville charted the Marlborough coast in 1827 aboard a ship named L’Astrolabe. When career winemaker Simon Waghorn wanted to start his own label in 1996, he chose the name Astrolabe because of the historic ties with Marlborough, and he liked the connotations of exploration and discovery.

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[H2] Wine

[H1] Sustainability

As a family owned and run winery, we can define and practise the values we think are important. We believe that we must work actively to protect and nuture our environment. 100% of our operations are certified by Sustainable Winegrowing NZ, an independently audited programme which covers climate change, responsible water use, managing waste, and protecting plants, the soil and the people that work on it.

As a family owned and run winery, we can define and practise the values we think are important. We believe that we must work actively to protect and nuture our environment. 100% of our operations are certified by Sustainable Winegrowing NZ, an independently audited programme which covers climate change, responsible water use, managing waste, and protecting plants, the soil and the people that work on it.

Organic
Astrolabe Farm and Wrekin vineyard are certified organic vineyards with BioGro New Zealand. Wrekin vineyard was established to be an organic vineyard in 2002, gaining certification in 2019. Astrolabe Farm was planted in the 1980s, and Simon and Jane have been farming organically since 2012, becoming certified in 2021. Other vineyards are on a pathway to organics, and these are generally found in our Winemaker range. Organic certification restricts the use of synthetic pesticides, fertilisers and herbicides, and as organic grapegrowers, our focus shifts to nurturing and protecting the health of our plants so that we do not require the use of these chemicals. One of the biggest challenges with organic farming is weed management. Under our organic programme, we rely on hand-weeding and undervine mowing as well as competitive planting to suppress weeds. We constantly monitor soil health via testing to guide our work in making improvements.

Carbon Neutral
Astrolabe Wines is certified net carbon zero through Toitū. This programme provides us with the tools to measure and monitor our carbon footprint annually. For the last three years, we have achieved carbon neutrality through a combination of reduction measures and off-setting. We use WineWorks to bottle and store our wines, and they are also certified carbon neutral with Toitū. Many of our suppliers are also certified or seeking certification, and we are working towards full product certification. At Astrolabe Farm vineyard, we are minimising tractor and vehicle use, using an electric bicycle for vineyard work, which has the additional benefit of creating less soil compaction. We are also trialling an electric motorbike for our viticulturalist, Stephen, for using to take samples and check on vine health at our sites around the Marlborough district. In 2008, we switched to a lightweight bottle, but the wastage due to breakages outweighed the carbon benefit, so we returned to a standard midweight bottle. We are now trialling a new lighter bottle, which we are excited and hopeful about.

Appellation Marlborough Wine
Astrolabe Wines is a foundation member of Appellation Marlborough, an organisation created to safeguard the quality of Marlborough wine. “All of these wines proudly carry the AMW icon on their label, guaranteeing they are wines of provenance, made with integrity and bottled in New Zealand. The AMW icon is the only guarantee a wine is 100% pure Marlborough. Nothing else, no exceptions.” — appellationmarlboroughwine.co.nz

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