Stone Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2018 (12 x 750mL) NZ

Viticulture and Winemaking

The 2018 vintage will be remembered as one of the trickiest on record, with cool days in February and March and rain coming just before and during harvest. Sugar levels were down in the grapes which prolonged the ripening season and pushed harvest dates back by about seven days compared to normal.

Fortunately, Toi Toi dodged the rain showers and harvested our grapes in the cool of the early morning, in very good conditions. We picked the grapes when the flavours were at optimum, to ensure we preserved the fruit flavours in the wine. We used a select de-stemmer harvester to softly handle the fruit. Once pressed off skins, the juice was then fermented at low temperatures in stainless steel tanks with selected yeast strains to preserve the inherent delicate fruit flavours. Following fermentation, the wine was aged on light yeast lees to increase palate weight and complexity before it was bottled for enjoyment.