Greywacke Archive Release Wild Sauvignon 2016 (750ml)

GREYWACKE WILD SAUVIGNON 2016

TASTING NOTE 

Imagine – shortbread and friands, quinces and apricots, lemon zest and ginger, honeysuckle and vanilla bean – a delicious, sweet-scented fragrance of ripe fruit and Asian spices infused with a tarragon-like herbal thread and a faint whiff of wood smoke. Fermented entirely with naturally occurring yeast, this is an alternative style of sauvignon blanc that is both intricate and textural with a rich, succulent palate finishing crisp and long with a flinty dryness.

VITICULTURE

Fruit was sourced from various vineyard sites in the Southern Valleys and the central Wairau Plains, specifically in Woodbourne, Renwick and Rapaura. Soil types vary from the young alluvial deposits of Rapaura and Renwick, which contain high proportions of greywacke river stones, to the older and denser clay-loams of the Southern Valleys. A high percentage of the vineyards were trained using the divided Scott Henry canopy management system, with the balance on two- or three-cane VSP (vertical shoot positioning).

WINEMAKING

Some vineyards were harvested by machine and others by hand, all into halftonne bins, which were tipped directly into tank presses. The grapes were pressed lightly and the resulting juice was cold-settled prior to racking into mostly old French oak barriques. The juice was allowed to undergo spontaneous indigenous yeast fermentation, the tail end of which continued for well over six months. The wine had occasional lees stirring and approximately two-thirds underwent malo-lactic fermentation. It was transferred out of oak prior to the following harvest and left on yeast lees for a further six months. The wine was bottled in November 2017 with alcohol 14.0%, pH 3.20 and acidity 6.0 g/l.