Sauvignon Blanc 2004 Black Label
View Product Details for this wine
2004
750 ml
White
Still Wine
New Zealand
A.O.C.
13 %
0-5 g/l
A family-owned company managed by Martyn and Pamela Nicholls, whose family traces its roots back to the Loire Valley in France. Gravitas was established a decade ago and the vineyards were chosen after a four year search across six countries to find the perfect site for Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Martyn has graduated from the International Wine MBA (Bordeaux) as its top student and is currently completing his Master of Wine accreditation. Our grapes are meticulously grown by Vineyard Foreman, Ray Mortimer, and our wines made under the expert supervision of Chris Young, one of New Zealand’s leading winemakers.
The Gravitas-owned Saint Arnaud’s vineyard is the sole source of the fruit for this wine. This vineyard, located at the western end of the Wairau Valley at the confluence of the two key rivers of the region, the Wairau and Waihopai, is slightly cooler than areas closer to the sea. The temperature characteristics of this vineyard aligned with the free-draining stony soils give wines that show an interesting range of fruit and mineral characters. Intense hand-work is utilised in the vineyard to ensure that the fruit is both true to variety and also to the site. Cropping is maintained at a low, balanced level and techniques such as shoot-thinning and leaf-plucking are practised to ensure that at the time of picking the fruit is at optimum and consistent physiological ripeness.
A range of 6 clones/rootstock combinations were picked at separate times between 4th and 17th April, all by hand, whole cluster pressed for gentle extraction and fermented individually so that a wide number of options were available at the time of blending. The fermentation was maintained at a relatively low temperature so that the fruit characters were maintained and then left on yeast lees, for four months, so that the yeast cells start to break down and add flavour and palate texture to the final wine. Once fermentation was finished, the blending took place in September and the wine bottled in October 2004.
