Esk Valley Sauvignon Blanc - Marlborough New Zealand

This a very aromatic and intensely flavoured wine true to its Marlborough origins.Cooler harvest conditions have produced a wine with flavours tending towards green fruits and fresh herbs.It is a rich and full-flavoured style with a crisp dry finish which provides freshness and length to the palate.

The individual parcels were harvested and transported to the winery for immediate processing to capture the freshness of the fruit. Fermentation was conducted at cool temperatures utilising selected yeast strains along with 5% barrel fermentation to add further richness to the finished blend. Post-fermentation the wines were left on their yeast lees with regular stirring to gain further richness and body before blending and bottling.

Vineyards in the warm Wairau Valley and cooler Awatere Valley (92%) were utilised for this wine. The vineyards are planted on a mix of free draining gravel and clay soils which provide both elegance and structure to the blended wine. This was a cooler Marlborough harvest which resulted in grapes with moderate sugars and excellent acidity.