Hunters Offshoot Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc Pétillant Naturel 2023

Description

Apple, Dry, Passionfruit

The fruit for this wine was sourced from the Waihopai Valley sub region of Marlborough. On the nose the wine shows beautiful tropical fruit and ripe citrus aromas that is complimented by classic Sauvignon Blanc characters. The palate is vibrant and fresh with passionfruit and apple notes. Good natural acidity brings all these characters together into a well-balanced wine. The wine shows a light spritz due to the fermentation finishing in bottle.

At the start of the growing season conditions was damp and humid with budburst slightly earlier than average. Some rain during the growing season provided plenty of nutrient but didn’t impact any fruit set. Mild summer conditions help with even ripening of the grapes which allowed perfect conditions for the fruit to be picked at optimum ripeness. Overall, we received average yields with optimum quality fruit.

Pétillant Naturel (pet nat) translates from French to naturally sparkling. To achieve carbonation, we bottle the wine while it is still fermenting and close the bottle with a crown seal. The yeast continues to ferment the sugars, producing carbon dioxide that becomes trapped in solution. The wine is cloudy as there is no filtration prior to bottling, kind of like a pale ale beer. The sediment at the bottom of the bottle is the dead yeast cells that settle once the fermentation process has completed. We used Sauvignon Blanc because it is a variety that is full of character, especially when grown in Marlborough. This Pet-Nat provides a little glimpse at the type of wine our Winemakers are used to tasting in the winery before wines are prepared for bottling.