‘South Oaks’ Barrel Fermented Sauvignon Blanc 2016
COLOUR: Bright straw
AROMA: Ripe tropical fruit core featuring mango, juicy nectarine and citrus elements. Lifted notes of dry herbs, lime leaf, and gooseberry supplemented by complex aromas of honeycomb, vanilla bean and roasted hazelnut.
PALATE: This wine displays tension and great length. The palate is tight and fresh, supported with a rich and creamy structure and underlying chalky minerality providing linear structure. The mouthfeel is intense and yet seamless and well balanced.
ANALYSIS: Alc. 14% | pH 3.02 | TA 7.0
WINEMAKER NOTES: The fruit is hand-picked into small baskets. At the winery it is hand sorted then gently whole bunch pressed, and the juice fermented in French oak barriques (20% new oak). After fermentation the wine is aged in French oak barrels on yeast lees for 10 months.
VITICULTURIST NOTES: Vigour and fertility in this block is very low resulting from the high Greywacke rock content. As a result the vines are treated differently to normal Sauvignon Blanc with only 2 canes laid, shoot thinned to 16 shoots, hand leaf plucked with a high 80% exposure. Very small berried and open bunches are typical in this block, with an average cropping level of 2.5 kg per vine. At harvest the berries take on a blush appearance as it is ripened to around 24-25 Brix. One of the secrets to this block is that it holds its acidity level at high brix / ripeness levels.
