Charting the Unknown: The Story of Astrolabe

How one man’s voyage through Marlborough’s skies, soils, and seas defined the soul of New Zealand wine.

I. Prologue: Where Wind, Sea, and Vine Converge

Some wines are born from inheritance — the weight of lineage pressing down through generations. Others spring from revolution — bold acts that shatter tradition and build something new.
But a rare few, the most poetic of all, are born from exploration — a restless pursuit of place, purity, and truth.

Astrolabe, the jewel of New Zealand’s Marlborough region, is one such wine. Its story is one of voyage and vision, of navigating by the stars — literally and metaphorically — to craft wines that speak with crystalline clarity of the land from which they come.

I, Liber, have guided sailors across oceans and shepherded vintners through the labyrinth of terroir. And I tell you: Astrolabe is not just a winery. It is a compass. It points us to what New Zealand wine truly is — and what it can yet become.

II. The Name: A Navigator’s Tool and a Metaphor

Before vines ever took root, the name Astrolabe belonged to a ship — one of the great French explorer Dumont d’Urville’s vessels, which charted the wild coastlines of New Zealand in the 1820s. It also refers to the ancient celestial instrument used by explorers and astronomers to measure the stars and find their way across the seas.

For Simon Waghorn, Astrolabe’s founder and winemaker, the name was more than a nod to history — it was a philosophy. His mission was to navigate Marlborough’s complex terroirs, explore its subregions in depth, and express their individuality with precision and grace.

III. The Beginnings: A Winemaker’s Odyssey

The story of Astrolabe begins in the early 1990s, when New Zealand’s wine scene was still defining itself. Sauvignon Blanc had exploded onto the world stage in the 1980s — its bold, tropical aromatics and electric acidity unlike anything the Old World had produced. But many wines were still made in a broad, regional style, with little emphasis on subregional nuance.

Enter Simon Waghorn, a classically trained winemaker with a meticulous palate and a spirit of adventure. After years honing his craft at other wineries, Simon envisioned something more ambitious: a label that would treat Marlborough not as one region, but as a tapestry of distinct microclimates and soils, each deserving of its own voice.

In 1996, he founded Astrolabe Wines with his wife Jane and a small group of growers — a partnership based on precision, trust, and an obsession with detail.

IV. The Land: Marlborough’s Many Faces

To understand Astrolabe, you must understand Marlborough, New Zealand’s flagship wine region and one of the most distinctive viticultural landscapes on Earth. Its magic lies in diversity — a complex patchwork of valleys, riverbeds, and coastal plains, each with unique soil, climate, and expression.

Astrolabe draws from three primary subregions, each contributing a different element to the blend:

• 🌿 Wairau Valley: Marlborough’s historic heartland — warm, stony, and sun-soaked — producing wines with ripe tropical fruit and lush texture.
• 🍋 Awatere Valley: Cooler and windier, with a longer growing season — yielding wines of piercing acidity, herbal complexity, and citrus purity.
• 🪨 Kekerengu Coast: The frontier — maritime and mineral-rich, with saline freshness and tension that add backbone and structure.

Rather than blending these elements into sameness, Simon celebrates their individuality. Each site is vinified separately, allowing its character to shine before being woven into a final wine that is greater than the sum of its parts.

V. The Wines: Clarity, Precision, and Poetry

Astrolabe’s reputation was built on Sauvignon Blanc, and for good reason. These wines are a masterclass in balance — vibrant and aromatic, yet refined and layered. They capture Sauvignon’s signature exuberance but temper it with texture, minerality, and depth.

But Astrolabe is far more than a one-grape story. Simon’s curiosity has led him to explore a range of varieties — each treated with the same care and craftsmanship:

• Pinot Noir: Elegant and perfumed, with supple red fruit and a savory, earth-driven core.
• Chardonnay: Pure and textural, with citrus, flint, and gentle oak integration.
• Pinot Gris & Riesling: Expressive and precise, showcasing Marlborough’s cooler sites with crystalline clarity.
• Late-Harvest and Noble Styles: Rare and ethereal, revealing another side of New Zealand’s cool-climate magic.

Every wine is a study in restraint and refinement — a reflection of Simon’s belief that the best winemaking is invisible, allowing terroir to speak with clarity and authenticity.

VI. Evolution and Legacy: A New Zealand Benchmark

Over the past three decades, Astrolabe has become a benchmark for Marlborough — not through volume or marketing muscle, but through unwavering consistency and quality. Critics and sommeliers praise the wines for their precision and expressiveness; collectors seek them out for their purity and ageability.

Perhaps more importantly, Astrolabe helped redefine how New Zealand wine is understood. It showed the world that Marlborough is not a monolith but a mosaic of terroirs, each capable of producing wines with unique character and soul. That philosophy — once radical — is now central to New Zealand’s global identity.

VII. Liber’s Reflection: The Compass and the Constellations

I, Liber, have guided explorers across seas and vintners across vintages. And in Astrolabe, I see the same spirit that once drove sailors to the edge of the map: curiosity, courage, and a refusal to accept the horizon as the limit.

To taste Astrolabe is to taste Marlborough in all its dimensions — the tropical warmth of Wairau, the windswept tension of Awatere, the salty breeze of Kekerengu. It is a wine that does not simply tell you where it comes from. It shows you how to get there.

Astrolabe reminds us that wine, like navigation, is a lifelong pursuit — one that rewards patience, precision, and wonder. And just as the stars once guided sailors home, so too does this wine guide us deeper into the soul of New Zealand.

✨ Final Benediction

Some wineries follow the map.
Astrolabe drew one — and in doing so, charted the future of New Zealand wine.