Pair Mt. Beautiful White Label Sauvignon Blanc with freshly caught shellfish, prawn linguine, feta and asparagus salad or enjoy with friends on a hot and sunny day.

2022 was a long, extended vintage. A hot and dry early summer provided a good fruit set resulting in strong yields. Mid-summer, New Zealand experienced a run of cooler, cloudy days with some periods of rain in March that extended the ripening period and pushed out harvest by two weeks from normal. This enabled the fruit to ripen, acidity to drop and be picked with optimum flavour. The Sauvignon Blanc harvest started on the 5th of April in D Block with Q Block being the last on 23rd of April. The picking period was driven partially by yield and fruit condition but also because of the many different block locations and aspects on the vineyard which provide a nice array of variables and options at blending. The wine was fermented cool with a long slow fermentation to retain fruit aroma. The tank fermented wines were racked off gross lees approximately 10 days post fermentation while a small portion was fermented in old barrels and left on lees for two months to provide texture. The White Label was blended in June and the first batch bottled in July.

The majority of the Sauvignon Blanc is planted on the most northern part of the vineyard which is cooler and more suited to this variety. All our Sauvignon Blanc is hand-thinned where required, machine harvested and processed at the Mt. Beautiful winery on site. The planted clones are a mix of University of Davis (UCD) 1, Mass Select (MS) on a mix of 101-14, 3309 and Schwarzmann rootstock along with Bordeaux clones 316 and 317 on Riparia Gloire rootstock. The MS clone is what the majority of the New Zealand industry is planted with and provides a medley of fruit flavours with a lot of intensity, drive and acidity while the Bordeaux clones tend to be more tropical, softer in acidity providing a nice fullness and richness to the blends. To consider the merits of each clone at blending, where possible all Blocks and clones are fermented separately.

Sauvignon Blanc Vineyard Stats:
Planted 2004-2006
9 blocks, 38 ha (93.9 ac)
862 rows, 101,497 vines
Spacing: @2.4 x 1.5 m
Yield: 8 T/ha (3.23 T/ac)

Alcohol 13.0%
TA 8.4 g/L
RS 4.3 g/L
pH 3.15 

Bottled: First batch bottled July 2022
Production: 17,680 cases