Forrest Marlborough Albariño 2018

Description

"It is immediately appealing on the nose showing apricot, lemon peel, jasmine and subtle spice characters, leading to a vibrant palate that is juicy and beautifully rounded. The wine offers pristine fruit flavours with fine texture and bright acidity, finishing persistent and refined. At its best: now to 2022" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Oct 2018

"Full, even, pale golden-yellow colour, a little lighter on the edge. The nose is softly full with restrained aromas of yellow stonefruits along with an amalgam of yellow florals, stonefruit kernels and nutty elements. Dry to taste and medium-bodied, the palate has soft, but lively, gently concentrated flavours of white and yellow stonefruits, with floral nuances and hints of honeysuckle. The aromatics blossom on mid-palate, and the wine flows smoothly with light acid energy. This has a little unctuousness and the wine carries to a rounded finish of stonefruits and honeysuckle. This is a soft and rounded dry Pinot Gris with gentle stonefruit, floral and honeysuckle flavours on a smooth palate with some richness. Match with Asian fare over the next 2-3 years. Fruit from the ‘North Bank’ vineyard, Wairau Valley, fermented in stainless-steel with 5% in barrel to 13.0% alc. and 5 g/L RS, the oak portion aged 3 months on full lees" Raymond Chan, Sep 2018

This wine shows why our Southern Valleys vineyards are so special. Everything we’d hoped for and showing all the traditional Albariño elements, plus that extra fruit lift of New Zealand to keep it interesting. Vibrant acidity, white peach, winter cole pear, apricots and quince, with an orange zest undertone. It’s full and textural, yet refreshing and nicely balanced, with drying minerality to finish.

Vintage 2018 proved the age old adage that no two vintages are ever the same! It was a challenging year, especially from veraison (early February) to harvest (late March) due to unseasonable heavy and warm rain events. Spring growth conditions were excellent, early December flowering conditions ideal and summer balmy – all looked set for a cracking vintage; maybe 7-10 days early – but that’s not a bad thing. However the change in weather from February had us on our toes watching for botrytis infection and praying to the weather gods for a break in the rain…. Harvest began early on the 7th of March, with fruit flavours and grape health looking good, however, the detailed 10-day weather forecast showed dark clouds and prolonged rain moving in once again. As vintage 2017 began to ring in our heads we hit the accelerator and managed to have 90% of the fruit in the door before the next downfall. An ideal weather window post-rain and some good spring winds managed to dry out the canopies and finish the season perfectly for the late harvest and botrytis varieties. So all in all, for Forrest, a good vintage, with clean, varietal fruit flavours, balanced acidity and great palate weight. Some little gems have emerged in the blending sessions and we think you will be enjoying some more impressive Forrest Wines this year!

Albariño is the classic Galician (northwestern) Spanish white varietal. Grapes were plented on their hottest site; the Southern Valleys vineyard, very old complex soils with a touch of clay. Terroir know for giving wines fabulous aromatic intensity and textural complexity.

The grapes were machine harvested in the cool of the morning, cold settled and cool fermented in stainless steel tanks prior to blending and finishing for bottling in spring.