gray WOW!!
2014
Greywacke
Sauvignon Blanc
Marlborough
"The 2014 Sauvignon Blanc exudes a slightly yeasty / savory fruit nose with plenty of lemon and lime character presiding over nuances of lightly browned toast, white blossoms and coriander seed. There's also some coriander coming through on the elegantly fruited palate that also has a nice suggestion of minerals on the long finish. I met-up with legendary Marlborough winemaker and very talented photographer Kevin Judd in Central Otago this trip. Along with the new releases, he presented me with a vertical tasting of The "Wild Sauvignon Blanc" to demonstrate how it ages. Kevin Judd (who, I should probably point out, was one of the founders and the former winemaker at Cloudy Bay), was emphatically not looking to reinvent Cloudy Bay's Te Koko with this wine. And although it too is a barrel fermented style, this is where the similarities end. Produced from a sub-set of the batches that go into his straight Sauvignon Blanc label, for this wine he is looking for a riper cross section of batches with slightly higher alcohol. So ten different batches usually compose the wine. The real difference between these two styles is in the fermentations. With the Wild, it is wild, i.e. all natural fermentation and malo-lactic. He begins with clear juice so as not to produce too much of that (currently trendy) sulfide character. Fermented in oak - 7% new, Mercury French oak, lightly toasted - the wine is unsulfured until it comes out of barrel. 2/3 -3/4 of the barrels go through malo-lactic. It is then transferred to tank and stirred on lees in the tank. In contrast to Te Koko, which is in some ways more about the winemaking, with this wine Judd told me he wanted to show more of the Sauvignon Blanc fruit, and and is ultimately looking to forge a fresher, more varietally expressive style." (WA)
Wine Advocate: 91 pts.
VITICULTURE:
Fruit was sourced from various vineyard sites in and around the Brancott Valley and the central Wairau Plains, specifically in Woodbourne, Renwick and Rapaura. Soil types vary from the young alluvial soils of Rapaura and Renwick, which contain high proportions of greywacke river stones, to the older and denser clay-loams of the Southern Valleys. The majority of the vineyards are trained using the divided Scott Henry canopy management system, with the balance on two- or three-cane VSP (vertical shoot positioning).
WINEMAKING:
Sauvignon Blanc was harvested at night into half-ton bins. The grapes were pressed relatively lightly and the resulting juice was cold-settled prior to fermentation. The majority of the juice was fermented cool in stainless steel tanks using cultured yeast. A portion was filled into old French oak barriques where it was allowed to undergo spontaneous indigenous yeast fermentation. All individual lots were left on lees and kept separate until final blending.
TASTING NOTES:
A potent medley of honeydew and rock melon with notes of blackcurrant intermingled with layers of delicate citrus blossom and a smoky, dill-like complexity. A classic Marlborough vintage showing an exotic salsa-like combination of succulent tropical fruit flavors and that hallmark herbal infusion, finishing with a zesty citrus tang.
(Winery Notes)
only $17.95
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