Sauvignon Blanc

Fruit was sourced from various prime vineyard sites in Marlborough’s
Southern Valleys, the central Wairau Plains (specifically in Woodbourne, Renwick and Rapaura)
and a spectacular river terrace site in the upper Awatere Valley. Soil types vary from the young
alluvial soils of Rapaura, Renwick and the upper Awatere, which contain high proportions of
New Zealand’s ubiquitous greywacke river stones, to the older and denser clay-loams of the
Southern Valleys. The majority of the vineyards were trained using the divided Scott Henry
canopy management system, with the balance on a two- or three-cane VSP (vertical shoot
positioning) trellis.
WINEMAKING Harvested largely by machine during cool (often cold) night-time conditions,
the sauvignon blanc grapes were picked into half-tonne bins, which were tipped directly into
the tank press and lightly pressed. The resulting juice was cold-settled prior to fermentation in
stainless steel, primarily using cultured yeast for cool, slow fermentation. A portion was allowed
to undergo spontaneous indigenous yeast fermentation.
All individual vineyard batches were left on lees and kept separate until late July, when the
blend was assembled. The wine was bottled in mid-August with an alcohol of 13.0%, pH 3.14
and acidity 7.3 g/l.