Blank Canvas McKee Vineyard Gruner Veltliner 2017

Full-bodied richness, brilliant orange citrus, white pepper aromatics and a savoury, textural palate exemplify this single-vineyard Marlborough Gruner Veltliner. With the variety originally hailing from Austria, we feel our rendition takes on the best of European structure and New Zealand fruit opulence. The fruit was hand-picked from the McKee Vineyard in the Blind River subregion, gently pressed and fermented in both stainless steel and 500L French oak puncheons. It spent 11 months maturing on fine lees which has given increased texture and complexity.

The McKee Vineyard is located in the coastal Blind River subregion of Marlborough, south of the Awatere Valley. Soils are comprised of complex silty loams and gravels while the average vine age is 7 years. Proximity to the sea contributes a mineral saline quality to the fruit while the cool coastal microclimate ensures vibrant and focused acidity. We green thinned the crop in early February to ensure the fruit was even and vines were in balance with a yield target of 7 tonnes/hectare. The vineyard is VSP trained and cane pruned.

We hand-harvested the McKee Vineyard Gruner Veltliner on the 20th April 2017. At the winery the grapes were de-stemmed, crushed and gently pressed with a press-cut at 600 L/tonne. This wine is 100% free-run juice only and it was run into large French oak puncheons (~20% new) with the smaller balance to a single stainless steel tank for fermentation. A select yeast strain was used for fermentation which was completed over 12 days and the wine then underwent elevage on lees. It was bottled on the 8th March 2018 and cellared in bottle for a further 4.5 years prior to release.