Esk Valley Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2023

This a very aromatic and intensely flavoured wine true to its Marlborough origins. Given the warm harvest conditions, the flavours lean toward ripe tropical fruits, with hints of green fruits and fresh herbs. It is a rich and full-flavoured style with a crisp dry finish which provides freshness and length to the palate.

Stony vineyard sites in the Wairau Valley (40%) and further south in the cooler Awatere Valley were selected for this wine. The Wairau Valley fruit provides the blended wine with structure and tropical fruit notes while the Awatere Vineyard offers acidity and pungent notes of nettle, pea pods and gooseberry. The vineyards are all carefully managed and crop thinned in the pursuit of quality fruit.

The individual vineyard parcels were harvested and transported to the winery for immediate pressing to capture the freshness of the fruit. Fermentation was conducted at cool temperatures utilising selected yeast strains. At the completion of fermentation, the finished wines were left on lees and stirred to gain richness and complexity before blending and bottling.