Gladstone Sauvignon Blanc

Gladstone is a fantastic boutique winery in Wairarapa in the Martinborough region, at the bottom of North Island up in the hills to the east of Wellington. Wairarapa is very possibly the biggest success story in "boutique New Zealand" in the last ten years, as it's soil and microclimate produce outstandlingly concentrated fruit. The wineries here are mainly family affairs producing great wines with real passion and flare.

Christine and David Kernohan - both originally from bonnie Scotland - have been making wine here since 1996. Minimal intervention is the key, letting the fruit do all the talking. Although it is coupled with expert dedicated winemaking of course.They are in conversion to organic, which is straight forward for them as they have always minimised additives and intervention anyway.

This Sauvignon from their flagship "Gladstone" range is fantastic. Extensively lees aged for body, complexity and longevity. It is full of tropical fruit yet with a real mineral streak on the back palate. It is very good indeed.

Tasting notes from their website:

The wine has a rich tropical and floral nose of nectarine, lemon blossom, ripe meyer lemon and elderflower. The gently textured palate is smooth and full flavoured. Its delicate citrus finish and soft minerality reflect the terroir and give structure and longevity. Drink now or cellar for the next three years.

pH: 3.13, TA 7.18g/l, residual sugar: 1.6g/l, alcohol: 13%

IN THE WINERY

Hand-picked fruit was gently whole-bunch pressed, while machine-harvested fruit was allowed some skin contact to extract more flavour. The press fraction was kept separate from the free run juice. The juice was cold settled for three days before being racked off the sediment and fermented in stainless steel tanks. We used very different fermentation temperatures to give each batch a chance to express itself more freely. After fermentation, the batches were kept on the lees for an extended period with fortnightly stirring to promote palate weight. A small component (about 10%) of barrel-fermented wine was blended to give extra texture and weight to the wine.

IN THE VINEYARD

The fruit was either hand-picked or machine-harvested depending on the site. The grapes were grown at our Carters, Dakins Road, and Home blocks. The Dakins Road block is situated on stony river alluvial soils and the Home block on slightly heavier silty loam. The Home block vines are 25 years old, giving great texture and weight to the final wine.