Sauvignon Blanc 2005

Vintage

Isabel Wines

Tasting Note

Fragrant, fine and delicate Sauvignon, the nose exhibits subtle intensity of passion fruit, fresh snow pea, honey and fresh cut grass, as well as exotic fruits such as lychee and pineapple. Exquisitely soft texture, the palate is round, length balanced with unexpectedly crisp acidity and mineral character.

Accolades

4 stars Placed 3rd out of 126 New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc’s.“…Asparagus, gooseberry. Crisp acidity, creamy, concentrated, well balanced.”
Decanter Magazine, July 2006

5 Stars “…a finely scented wine, fresh, crisp and punchy, but not one-dimensional, with lovely passionfruit, lychee and pineapple flavours, tight and long, and the barest hint of oak.”….
Michael Cooper’s Buyer’s Guide to New Zealand Wines, 2006 Edition

“Something different from the calcium-enriched soils of a special Marlborough vineyard site. Dry, flavoursome, oak-enhanced to provide a big wine from this grape and location, complex and dramatic. A glass for wine-lovers; positive with food and with a lot to say.”
Peter Saunders, F&B Magazine, Feb 2006

“You know how everyone adores (darling) Marlborough savvy blanc? Well I’m the sad case who pretty much hates it. But not this. Not only is this wine every bit mucho yummo, it’s sweetly swisho as well. Pears, musk, lemon, and – well, you get the drift. It tastes as much like a perfumed, sweet-fruited pinot gris as it does a savvy – a blade of cut grass dipped in the wine to keep its savvy personality. Yes yes, I likey, I do.
Score: Not what Mucho Yummo Wino is all about (but I dare say it deserves a mind-altering score: maybe 92).”
Posted on Sunday, April 16, 2006 by Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front

Isabel Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc Grapes

Further Vintage Reports & Tasting notes

Vineyard
Isabel Estate. Block 5, rows 256 -431

Variety
Sauvignon Blanc Clones: UCD 1 and 2, BDX 316 and 317, 5385

Harvest Date
26th April – 10th May 2005

Bottling Date
23rd August 2005

Budburst commenced slightly later than usual for this growing season due to heavier than normal rainfall and cooler soil temperatures. These Spring rains delivered 130mm of rain in the flower set period October – November, maintaining high soil moisture.

Much attention was paid to leaf removal in the fruit zone and reasonable fruit set was achieved. ’05 will ‘go down in history’ as a coolish year, continuing Marlborough’s cool weather cycle since ’03.

Batches of fruit were picked depending upon maturity, from 3 Estate vineyards, in cool, sunny weather conditions, which was typical of the’ 05 vintage. Fruit was received constantly during two weeks, averaging 23 Brix. Much of the fruit was harvested in the cool of the early mornings, after gentle whole bunch pressing, the juice arrived in tank for pre-ferment settling at a cool 10 degrees Celsius. This enabled us to preserve the typical freshness and crisp herbaceous flavours that is classically Marlborough.

The majority of this vintage was cool tank fermented to retain pure varietal character. A large portion of the later harvested fruit was pressed directly to seasoned French oak barrels and allowed to undergo a slow spontaneous fermentation, including a later Malo-lactic fermentation, providing texture, body, length and mouth feel to the wine.

Harvest Analysis
Brix: 22-24
pH: 3.1-3.4
TA: 7-12g/l

Wine Analysis
12.5% alcohol
8.5g/l titratable acidity
4.5g/l residual sugar