Cloudy Bay Te Koko

Vineyard

The grapes for our Te Koko were sourced from six of our sauvignon blanc vineyards located within the Rapaura, Brancott and Renwick sub-regions.

The soils are predominantly free draining gravels requiring irrigation during the growing season. the season A warm spring emerged from an unusually wet winter, providing the perfect conditions for rapid spring growth. Warm conditions continued and flowering occurred a week earlier than average in late November. Rainfall in November and December allowed for a high level of fruit set and strong bunch growth through January.

These ideal conditions lead to heavy crops and therefore vineyards were ruthlessly thinned in late January to maximise fruit quality and advance ripening harvest Batches of fruit from our selected vineyards were picked according to their flavour profile and ranged from 21.8 to 23.3 Brix.

The harvest of sauvignon blanc destined for our Te Koko took just over a week, commencing on the 5th of April from the stonier, warmer blocks around the winery. vinification Our grapes were harvested in the cool of evening to preserve fruit flavour and loaded immediately into our presses. After settling the juice for a period of three days, the juice was racked directly to French oak barrel (around 8% new).

The wild fermentation was typically slow and took about 8 months to complete. Fresh acidity was tempered by partial malolactic fermentation.

A pH of 3.31, 6.7 g/L titratable acidity, 3.65 g/L residual sugar and an alcohol of 13.5%.