Astonishingly good 2023 Deep Down Marlborough wines

I can’t overrate these wines.

Deep Down is the Marlborough wine project of Clive Dougall (ex-Seresin winemaker and viticulturist) and Peter Lorimer (Kiwi wine promoter and distributor), who mortgaged their houses and threw it all in to make Deep Down Wines.

From the first 1500 cases in 2019, Deep Down has been a different sort of Marlborough project. Yes, there’s still a Sauvignon Blanc, but everything is organic, wild fermented, kept back, and with minimal preservatives (or none at all in the Pinot Noir). Deep Down don’t fit the natural wine paradigm either – minimal additions, yet with an extra sense of precision.

I’ve watched the evolution of Deep Down Wines for the past few vintages, and it’s impossible to miss the trajectory. From the early wines, which were wild, a bit too broad and forward-feeling, to the smart 2022s and now this array of ’23 vintage releases with that x-factor sexy time magic. The flavour intensity, to pick a single element, is especially great – as if the volume button has found extra buttons.

NZ cult wine in the making? Perhaps, but at the very least they’re interest-packed wines.

More info at the winery website here or the Australian importers Single Vineyard Sellers.

Deep Down Marlborough Chardonnay 2023

Sourced from The (certified organic) Wrekin Vineyard, the Deep Down Marlborough Chardonnay 2023 is wild fermented, and spends 9 months in oak. This feels special from the first whiff – there’s a kitchen sink riot there, with butter, passionfruit, waxy marzipan funk, some golden whipped butter. It doesn’t smell wild or different, but instead evocative, involving and multi-faceted. The palate is just as riotous, even though it finishes crisply. It’s almost too intense, golden, and rich in its stonefruity/lightly floral expression and golden nutty punch. There’s just a bit of grungy leesy funk on the back end to remind you we’re not in some straight-laced world, but it just helps punch the flavours on through. Fuck Burgundy, this is the Chardonnay real deal. I might even be underrating it.

18.7/20, 95/100+. 13.5%, $60.

Deep Down Sauvignon Blanc 2023

A super Marlborough Sauv. Sourced from Murrays Vineyard, and spends some time in old oak – but this i is still a bright and fresh Marlborough Sauv. Passion fruit, hay, guava and extravagant spice. It’s still super fresh, linear, and beautifully fruity with this fresh-cut melon/peach juiciness and yet a steely dry backbone. Less wild this vintage, but no less exotic, it tastes so much more extravagant and ultimately delicious than Marlborough should. Super acidity! Still so fresh, when some ’23 NZ Sauv is starting to look broader.

18/20, 93/100. 12.5%, $35.

Deep Down Marlborough Blanc 2023

Organic Sauv Blanc, Chard & Pinot Noir from the Poplars Vineyard. Spends 9 months in old oak. Despite the blend, this has an Alsace vine to it. which makes zero sense, but the generous peachy and melon juiciness and sub-perceptive residual sugar give this body a bounce. It’s fun, still finely textured, with a bowl of fruit sort of mode and roudness, although freshness is still the main game and it still feels crisp. Easy to miss the leesy layers here too – it’s a real ‘fruit and more’ wine.

17.7/20, 92/100. 12.5%, $55