Our aim with this, our classic style of Sauvignon Blanc, is to put 100% effort into making a wine that silences all the doubters and which restores faith in this region and the amazing quality of the wines from here. This 2020 Sauvignon Blanc is a blend from three specially selected vineyards in two different subregions of Marlborough. Two of the vineyards are in the upper Awatere Valley – Shamrock and Trelawne Farm - and the third being our certified organic home block here in Renwick.
The growing conditions in the Awatere are characterised by cooler temperatures and slower ripening than in the Wairau, which is all important for flavour development and ripe acidity. The wines from this sub-region tend to be more restrained in their youth but have great texture, structure and longevity. Our Te Whare Ra home block experiences the warmer days of the Wairau Valley and a bigger diurnal range. These climatic factors combined with our clay loam soil here, results in wines which have great texture and fleshiness and are characterised by riper tropical notes with stone fruit and a lovely line of minerality.
The Awatere parcels of fruit for this wine were select machine picked and the Wairau portion was hand-picked and hand-sorted. The free-run and soft pressings parcels were combined for fermentation. The majority of the parcels underwent slow, cool fermentation in stainless, with 10% of the blend fermented at warmer temps in older French oak demi-muids. All parcels spent time on fine lees, post-ferment for texture. This wine has not been fined and is suitable for vegans and vegetarians and anyone else who loves authentic, hand-made wines.
Our 2020 release shows distinctive Awatere characters of guava, white currant, and elderflower coupled with lovely ripe passionfruit & tropical notes and hints of basil and lime from the Wairau fruit. These follow through to the palate – which is fine and soft with loads of fleshy fruit balanced by a ripe, juicy acidity and lingering minerality. There is real fruit weight here and that is complimented by lovely texture from the time on lees and the barrel parcels. It is utterly delicious! - Anna Flowerday
Anna Flowerday hails from McLaren Vale and kicked off her career there amid a thoroughly talented pack of young winemakers in the mid-1990s. She worked for Hardys for seven years all up, culminating in an aromatically formative stint at Leasingham in Clare Valley. It was during her time at Hardys that she met and fell in love with Jason Flowerday, a third-generation viticulturalist from Marlborough. Eventually they struck out together and in 2003 bought Te Whare Ra, home to one of the oldest vineyards in Marlborough, originally planted in 1979. Together they manage the estate with a combination of organic and biodynamic practices and have cemented this region's reputation not only as an impeccable source of aromatic whites but also as a force to be reckoned with for both Pinot Noir and Syrah.