Vineyard Description

The rare and exotic Viognier grape performs best in regions with warm temperatures, high sunshine hours and low rainfall, all of which are characteristics of the Hawke’s Bay climate. The Viognier grapes are grown on vertically-shoot-positioned vines planted on low vigour sites and careful leaf and shoot plucking in conjunction with strict yield management is undertaken to ensure clean and ripe fruit is harvested in optimum condition.

Winemaking

Hand picked, crushed and soaked on skins for between two and six hours to extract flavour and aromatics, the juice was gently pressed off skins and allowed to cold settle briefly before racking, with the inclusion of light solids, to oak barrels for fermentation. Fifteen percent of the blend was left to ferment naturally, with the remainder inoculated with Rhone Valley isolated yeast strains. Ferment temperatures were manipulated to peak between 16 and 22°c. Time on yeast lees including weekly manual stirring post fermentation has built layers of texture in the wine and maintained freshness for the short period of maturation prior to blending and bottling.

Winemaker's Comment

True to its variety this wine is heady with exotic aromatics, featuring honeysuckle, peach and nutmeg spice notes. The palate is unctuous with complementary spicy barrel notes providing texture, complexity and length. This wine can be enjoyed now but will develop for up to five years with careful cellaring.

Serving Suggestion

Delicious with Asian cuisine, particularly Thai-style seafood.