The August 1888 Sauvignon Blanc 2014

A barrel fermented Sauvignon Blanc with a tropical nose featuring passionfruit and lime leaves. It is multi-dimensional and layered with toasty almonds, fresh brioche and incredible flinty notes. Well-integrated oak provides complexity and elegance.

Vines receive a mix of spur and cane pruning to two canes and shoots are thinned to promote even ripeness and concentrated flavours. Matthews Lane and Dillons Point Vineyards are in Marlborough’s famed Wairau Valley, which the 2014 growing season began with one of the hottest starts on record until the end of December, with rapid even growth, good flowering and subsequent fruit set. January and February were cooler than average and this allowed the vineyards to achieve good berry development. March was warmer than the norm, creating fruit full of flavour and concentration

Complexity, depth of aroma and flavour are a result of low yielding vines, hand harvesting and barrel fermentation with wild yeast as well as extended maturation on lees. After hand picking, the fruit was whole bunch pressed to enhance flavour and retain acidity and purity. 80% of the free run juice was put in tanks before gravity filling second and third use 1000 litre German oak Fuder barrels with the remainder going to older French oak barriques. Fermentation was left to happen naturally with wild yeasts to add extra texture and build depth and length. The August Sauvignon Blanc 2014 was blended from barrel in March 2015, lightly filtered before bottling in July 2015 and has been maturing since then. It will continue to reward cellaring for another 10 years