The Wines

2007 Delta Sauvignon Blanc

Just when Matt Thomson was researching the Delta Farm site for the planting of Pinot Noir in 2001-2002, Sheena his wife was selling her house in Dublin and searching for the ideal Sauvignon Blanc vineyard site. Matt, through his work with other Sauvignon Blanc producers, had found that the area around Dillon’s Point produced the most intense flavours. Together they found a 25 acre site and planted it exclusively to Sauvignon Blanc.
Matt is confident that Marlborough’s ongoing development, as one of the leading wine producing regions in the world, will be to focus on planting varieties to match the soil and microclimate of individual sites.

Vineyard

Grape variety:
100% Sauvignon Blanc; 70% Clone 1, 30% BDX317

The vineyard is planted to more or less North-South orientation and to row spacing of 2.8 m and plant spacing of 2.4m to allow for balanced plants when their root development is fully established. The sub region has slightly cooler nights in summer, even soils with high levels of available minerals, and incredible drainage due to the sand lying beneath the soil. Malcolm Adams then uses his more than 20 years of experience in Marlborough viticulture to realise the potential in the site.

Vinification

The vintage started early in 2007 due to a very warm February and relatively light cropping levels that resulted from the very cool flowering weather during late November/early December. Following a cool April the vintage ended up being one of the longest we have ever seen as the later vineyards slowed down in their ripening. It was a very dry harvest.
The grapes were machine harvested during the night and very early morning at around 5° C. We harvested the two clones separately as the BDX 317 was ripe a few days earlier than the Sancerre derived Cl1. They were transported immediately to the winery where they were destemmed and pressed to minimize skin contact. The racked juice was inoculated with yeast and fermented at 12° C for 3 weeks. The wine was racked, stabilized, filtered and bottled without fining.

Tasting Note

This wine has classic Marlborough pungency and varietal definition. There are aromas of white and blackcurrants and plenty of passion fruit. The palate is full, and finishes with fresh acidity and currant and mineral characters that linger for minutes. While it is a powerful wine, it also has elegance

Gold Medal : 2007 Air New Zealand Wine Awards.
Gold medal : 2008 International Wine Challenge