It is no secret that the Marlborough wine industry produces award-winning Sauvignon Blanc. But what happens when you combine iconic Marlborough flavours with the complexity of oak ageing?
You get a hard-to-resist textural and complex Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc with delectable flavours of ripe blackcurrant and coffee bean prominent on the palate.
Delta Estate Wines has released just that. A Marlborough produced Sauvignon Blanc that tells a story of elegance with the ability to age gracefully over a five-year period. Now introducing the Delta Estate Barrel Fermented Sauvignon Blanc.
The fruit for this complex wine is sourced from select vineyards in the lower Wairau Valley in Marlborough, near to the coast. The lower Wairau Valley terroir has deep, fertile, free draining soils that are full of nutrients. Creating the perfect formula for growing delicious, concentrated flavours and aromas for our Sauvignon Blanc grapes.
Delta Winemaker Heather Stewart sought precision when crafting this new release wine, immediately destemming the Sauvignon Blanc grapes, ready to be pressed. After settling, the juice was racked into seasoned French oak barriques and fermented both naturally and through inoculation with selected yeasts. This Sauvignon Blanc was aged for eight months with regular barrel stirring before undergoing a second partial malolactic fermentation. Only the finest barrels were selected for final blending before the wine was prepared for bottle.
Rated 91 Points by James Suckling in 2023
“Notes of star fruit, sliced apples and lime with savory herbs, hints of fennel and capsicum. Medium-bodied, juicy, and vivid with clean, crunchy acidity and flavorful finish.”
When crafting this new release Sauvignon Blanc, Delta Winemaker Heather Stewart was fixed on showcasing the versatility of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, while producing a wine which can be cellared, and is compatible with a wider array of cuisine.
A note from the Winemaker
“By hand picking, whole bunch pressing, and fermenting in seasoned French oak barriques, the acid softens, the wine becomes rounder and richer, and the zesty tropical flavours become more complex and exotic, reminiscent of Southeast Asian fruits.
Classic Sauvignon Blanc is superb when it is youthful, with its aromatic vibrancy, but with age it can adopt vegetal notes. When we make the wine in an oxidative way, in barrel, we can control the aging, and achieve a beautiful creamy, papaya palate.
We treat every barrel in the batch as a discrete mini ferment, with varying amounts of solids, different yeasts (much of it wild indigenous yeast), both with and without malolactic fermentation, and hand select individual barrels to give us the blend we want.” – Heather Stewart, Delta Winemaker
*This Sauvignon Blanc is available for international distribution by enquiries only, please contact alison@deltawines.co.nz for more information
