Middle Earth Nelson Sauvignon Blanc 2020

Middle Earth Nelson Sauvignon Blanc 2020Dry style Nectarine Pink grapefruit Long finish "Powerful and delicious, the wine shows passionfruit, feijoa, crunchy apple and kaffir lime characters on the nose, followed by a concentrated palate displaying excellent fruit purity combined with bright acidity, making it hugely appealing" Sam Kim, Wine Orbir "Immediately varietal, intense, fruity and urgent with aromas of tropical fruits and meyer lemon, fresh herbs and wet stones minerality. On the

• Dry style
• Nectarine
• Pink grapefruit
• Long finish

"Powerful and delicious, the wine shows passionfruit, feijoa, crunchy apple and kaffir lime characters on the nose, followed by a concentrated palate displaying excellent fruit purity combined with bright acidity, making it hugely appealing" Sam Kim, Wine Orbir

"Immediately varietal, intense, fruity and urgent with aromas of tropical fruits and meyer lemon, fresh herbs and wet stones minerality. On the palate - equally intense, fruity and herbaceous with flavours of pineapple and apple, mango and pear, basil and stones. Balanced and well made, fruit centric, fresh, crunchy and ready" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier

This vintage has produced a fabulous Sauvignon Blanc. It has an enticing nose of ripe florals and the promise of fruit beneath. The palate bursts onto the stage with crunchy nectarine and pink grapefruit, and concludes its performance with a long clean finish.

Five picks from home vineyard blocks were machine harvested over a period of three days. Different parcels enabling them to engage with five different wines and create a spectrum of flavours to work with at blending time. But back to harvest... they have found machining to be the best technique for harvesting many of the aromatic white varieties and most definitely Sauvignon Blanc. They like to start early, preferably before dawn, removing the fruit quickly while the temperature is cool to minimise oxidation and preserve aromatics. Grape-skin contact with juice during transportation and processing at the winery contributing to the concentration of flavour and the phenolic structure obtained in the juice. They use a quick but gentle press cycle to de-juice the fruit. The juices are then cold settled for several days to achieve low solids prior to ferment promoting crisper and more pure varietal aromatics. Each parcel of juice is inoculated with a different Sauvignon yeast chosen for the attributes they will bring to the finished wine. The ferments are conducted slowly at cool temperatures again to preserve aromatics. When only a dash of sugar remains and the wines are deemed balanced, the ferments are arrested by chilling. A small volume of wine that’s destined for the final blend undergoes stirring on lees to enhance texture and mouth-feel. This creates a powerful blending component and an important brush stoke to otheir wine style. In early September this year the winery team set about grading the individual wines and trailing and trailing and trailing again, potential blends! Once finally agreed the wine was blended and finished for the bottling in the first week of October 2020.