Tohu Awatere Valley Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2025

Description

Dry, Grapefruit, Pineapple

"Bright and fresh, the inviting bouquet shows crisp apple, grapefruit, rockmelon, and lemon peel aromas. The palate is equally appealing with succulent fruit intensity, backed by vibrant acidity, finishing long and exuberant. At its best: now to 2028" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Oct 2025

Sourced entirely from vineyards located in Southern Marlborough’s spectacular Awatere Valley, this vibrant wine displays aromas of lemongrass, sweet capsicum and underlying notes of freshly crushed herbs. The palate is layered with flavours of sweet pineapple, crunchy green apple, and supporting notes of fresh lime and pink grapefruit. With outstanding fruit concentration balanced with zesty underlying minerality, this lively, fresh wine leads to a pure, and focused dry finish.

Grapes from this wine are sourced from vineyards located in the cool, dry, and windy Awatere Valley sub-region of Marlborough. The majority of the fruit comes from blocks located on the ancient river terraces of the upper Awatere Valley, with smaller parcels sourced from the alluvial, free-draining soils of the lower Awatere Valley. The 2024/2025 season started with very warm, settled weather and near perfect flowering conditions, resulting in plenty of bunches on the vines. Temperatures dropped in January but picked up again in February leading into harvest. With ideal weather conditions and slow, steady ripening in the vines, harvest decisions were not rushed, allowing fruit with an enticing array of flavour profiles to be picked when perfectly ripe. Harvest began in the lower Awatere on March 25th, with harvest in the upper Awatere blocks beginning a week later - with the last of the Awatere fruit arriving at the winery on April 16th. 

Fruit grown in the Awatere Valley is harvested using modern machine harvesters, allowing ultimate extraction of flavour and aroma compounds from the skins of the grapes. Once at the winery the grapes are pressed into stainless steel tanks for cold settling, before being gently racked and inoculated with yeasts chosen to naturally enhance the aromatic and flavour profiles of the wine. Fermentation is carried out at cool temperatures allowing the wine to retain its bright aromas; with each batch fermentation typically lasting around 21 days. After fermentation is complete the wines are left to settle on their yeast lees for a short period before being racked again into stainless steel tanks for maturation. Meticulous classification of each batch results in a final blend that truly captures the exceptional characteristics of the vineyards. Once blended the resulting wine is stabilised and filtered without the need for fining, ready for bottling in late July 2025.