Mt Beautiful North Canterbury Sauvignon Blanc 2018

Description

Dry

"Quite a serious Sauvignon with good weight and a pleasingly rich texture. A hint of tropical fruit with melon, nectarine and nutty yeast lees flavours. Dry but not austere. A good food wine" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, May 2019

This 2018 Sauvignon Blanc has great aromatic power with aromas of violet, fresh pear and white stone fruits. On the palate, this wine is generous and full-bodied with lush stone and passion fruits. A creamy mouth feel is balanced by crisp citrus acid drive and great length of flavor.

Made from the best of the best blocks, this wine is chiefly from the lower yielding sites of the vineyard with crops as low as eight Tonnes/hectare. The wine was mostly fermented cool with long slow fermentations to retain aroma and fruitiness. A proportion of the blend was aged on yeast lees for an extended period of time to bring texture and creaminess. Another small component of wine was fermented in older barrels. The wine was blended in October and bottled in December, nine months after harvest.

The majority of the Sauvignon Blanc is planted on the most northern part of the vineyard which is cooler and more suited to this variety. All of our Sauvignon Blanc is hand-thinned and machine harvested before it is pressed into juice on site. The planted clones are a mix of University of California Davis (UCD) 1 and Mass selection (MS) on a mix of 101-14, 3309 and Schwarzmann rootstock, with a quarter of the vines Bordeaux clones BDX 316 and BDX 317, on Riparia Gloire rootstock. The Bordeaux clones tend to give a definite lift to Sauvignon Blanc flavors, with less cut grass and more tropical flavors providing a more artisan style, balanced, elegant wine which compliments a range of foods.

Food Pairing: Pair Mt. Beautiful Sauvignon Blanc with arugula and feta salad, pasta carbonara or freshly shucked oysters on a sunny day.