te Pa Reserve Hillside Sauvignon Blanc 2023

Reviews

Global Sauvignon Blanc Masters 2024: Gold. 

Cameron Douglas MS: 95/100. A complex fine savoury fresh fruited bouquet with scents of white peach and grapefruit, there’s a light ginger lees quality then dried herb sea-grass quality. A dry, savoury and textured wine touches the palate with a backbone of acidity and flavours of citrus then tree fruits, grapefruit peel and apple, there’s a dried sage spice layer, textured mouthfeel and dry, balanced and even finish. Delicious, food friendly and ready to drink from 2024 through 2027.

Sam Kim, Wine Orbit: 95/100. 

VINOUS - Rebecca Gibb MW: 93/100. The 2023 Sauvignon Blanc The Reserve Collection Hillside, is taken from a single vineyard and carefully made – hand-picked and whole-bunch pressed to preserve the clarity and delicacy of the fruit. Fermented in stainless steel, its Awatere Valley character shines through with its green fruit, silvery minerality and lemon citrus characters. You can expect intense fruit concentration and a supple, full palate. Firm but balanced acidity draws this wine together to produce a dry, structured white. It is filled with personality and persistence and laced with fine sinew.

Michael Cooper: 5 stars. Instantly appealing, this vigorous wine was hand-picked in the Awatere Valley. It is highly aromatic, mouthfilling and sweet-fruited, with deep passionfruit, lime and green capsicum flavours, balanced acidity and a dry, lingering finish.

Tasting Note

Pungent aromatics of Meyer lemon, pineapple and powdery florals with nettle, fennel and boxwood notes adding layers of complexity. The palate is crisp and textural with impressions of juicy lime, preserved lemon, fresh herbs and wet rock. This wine possesses classic Awatere minerality, concentrated fruit, and a long crisp refreshing finish. 

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Type: White wine

Grape varial: 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Food match: Seafood, shellfish, salads, goat cheese

Wine region: Marlborough, New Zealand

Vineyard: The fruit for this wine was sourced from C block in the Awatere Valley, Redwood Hills Vineyard. C block is in the lower to middle part of the slope and is naturally low yielding, pruned to 3 canes, and is planted in soils consisting of loess over free draining gravels. This naturally low vigour site does not require shoot thinning, and it gets a light leaf pluck around the fruit zone.

Vintage summary: It was another wet start to the season thanks to the La Nina weather pattern with January and February seeing numerous rain events. The growing season was warm, although down on sunshine hours. Fortunately, the weather gods decided to favour Marlborough this year. The forecast rains in March and April never really arrived and the nights stayed cool. The grapes ripened slowly to get to target brix whilst retaining their all-important acidity. The wines are ripe, very aromatic, and beautifully balanced.

Winemaking: A portion of the fruit was handpicked and fermented with indigenous yeasts to add complexity to the final blend. The remainder of the fruit was harvested in the cool of the evening and gently pressed to tank for settling. Only the first cut free run juice was taken for this wine. The juice was settled for 48 hours before being racked to ferment with light fluffy lees taken. The tank was inoculated and fermented at 12-14º. Once fermentation had been completed the batches were left on gross lees for a further 10 weeks, prior to being racked and blended in a stainless-steel tank. The wine was kept on light lees for an additional 3 months.

Alcohol: 13% vol

Residual sugar: 2 g/l

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulphites

Cellaring potential: 2027

Closure: Screwcap

Produced and bottled by: te Pa Family Vineyards Ltd, 515 Wairau Bar Road, R.D.3, Blenheim Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand

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