Viticulture

The year 2001 was the second vintage produced from the Staete Landt Vineyard in Marlborough’s Rapaura area. It was also the driest growing season in Marlborough for decades. This caused stress in the vineyard and the vines had to be carefully monitored to ensure that they were healthy and able to ripen the fruit effectively.

The Staete Landt Vineyard Sauvignon is planted in 6 different blocks. We were even more careful than usual to select the blocks to be harvested as soon as they reached ripeness. We harvested the Sauvignon on four different occasions, which gave us a spread of wines with different structures and flavour. The first picks were to retain the great intensity of aroma and that zingy acidity that is the hallmark of good Sauvignon. The later picks were to provide the weight and tropical fruit concentration that we aim for in our Sauvignon Blanc.

Harvest Dates: Harvest Dates : 23rd March – 7th April 2001
Brix: Brix : 22.0 – 24.0

Winemaking

There were four separate portions picked at different times. Each was treated differently in the winery. The majority of the grapes were machine harvested and fermented using neutral yeast not to detract from the fruit flavours and aromas. This wine was racked immediately after ferment.
Two other portions were hand picked and whole bunch pressed to retain delicacy and elegance. The first portion aged in a tank on its lees thus allowing a subtle but complex delicate wine to develop.
The second hand picked portion (about 10% of the wine) fermented in five year old French oak barrels and was aged for a further 3 months on its lees. This resulted in more complexity to the wine and minimal oak flavour due to the age of the barrels.

Wine Analysis

Alcohol: 13.5%; Acidity: 7.5 g/l; pH: 3.23; Sugar: 2g/l

Tasting Note

A complex and intensely aromatic Sauvignon Blanc. This wine is perfumed with tropical fruit aromas of passion fruit and honeydew melons. In the mouth the wine is full bodied with real concentration of flavour and aroma, a passion fruit character is dominant but this is backed by subtle dry grass like flavours with creamy and almost nutty complexity and a fine fresh acid.
This is a wine for drinking whilst young but has the substance and concentration to develop well over two to five years once the primary fruit aromas have subsided.