2013 Waipara Hills Sauvignon Blanc textural and bursting with flavour.
Waipara Hills release their 2013 Waipara Hills Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, just in time for what is predicted to be a
hot summer. The new release Sauvignon Blanc is the perfect partner on a balmy summer evening, with its fresh flavours of
guava, melon, nettles and flint that flow from the nose into the mouth.
Waipara Hills Winemaker, Simon McGeorge, is really looking forward to showing off the 2013 Waipara Hills Sauvignon Blanc
in the coming year. “I love the rich burst of fruit on the first sip, but it’s the texture and structure that I think
are exciting. A grapefruit pith character, along with a nice rich mid-palate, gives this wine vibrancy and complexity
which I believe will really have broad appeal.” Simon said.
At Waipara Hills the winemaking philosophy is simple. It’s about allowing the characteristics of each season’s fruit to
shine, creating perfect balance with as little interference as possible. The result is wine that’s rich, vibrant and
bursting with complex flavour.
Group Winemaker, Ben Glover said “the 2013 vintage was found to be quite forward in flavour, and fleshy, compared to the
structural and linear generosity of the 2012”.
2013 has been named as an ideal vintage, with many factors contributing including; a cool spring at the start of the
season, followed by a warm and stable summer, which provided the best possible growing conditions for Sauvignon Blanc
fruit and flavour development.
The fruit was sourced from the Wairau and Awatere Valleys of Marlborough, both producing very diverse flavours.
The Awatere Valley had slightly lower temperatures, and produced a lighter crop; hence did not show its typical tomato
leaf and nettle characters. Flavours were instead focused within the tropical spectrum, of melons and gooseberry; and
were much more categorical of Wairau Valley fruit. The Wairau Valley developed a balanced crop, which was abundant in
punchy nettle and grapefruit flavours.
With this in mind and wanting to ensure that the Waipara Hills Sauvignon Blanc maintained its lime and citrus characters
of which it has been founded upon; they took some fruit slightly early from selected Awatere grower sites, along with
the deeper coastal soils of the Wairau Valley; which brought a ripe herbaceous and rich pungent width to the palate.
Simon suggests that the 2013 Waipara Hills Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is “a cracking wine perfect over summer on the
patio with mates, and even better with nicoise salad, or in season asparagus.”
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