Jules Taylor Sauvignon Blanc 2019 (12 x 750mL) Marlborough, NZ

VINTAGE NOTES

The growing season began with a roar. A wet winter had left soils saturated and mild spring temperatures kicked off strong early canopy growth. Flowering was slightly earlier than average with Sauvignon Blanc in mid flower by late December. A little drizzle during flowering affected pollination and meant the bunches were open and had lots of smaller berries in them. After the wet winter and adequate rainfall during spring, the last significant rain of summer was on Christmas day when 27mls fell. For the rest of the growing season the warm dry weather was perfect for growing disease-free fruit and meant harvest was going to start early. The dry summer reduced the size of the grapes and so crops were a bit lighter than estimates had predicted. I picked Sauvignon Blanc at lower brix than in other years to ensure there was a good balance of acidity and fresh flavours. Vintage itself was really concentrated with all fruit harvested in 22 days compared to the 33 days over 2018. The 2019 harvest is of very high quality with pristine fruit and great flavours. Sauvignon Blanc flavours will be very concentrated and in a riper style than the past two vintages.

VINIFICATION

With a dedicated harvesting crew on hand we able to harvest each block individually once the fruit was ripe and I was happy with the flavours being expressed. At the winery we pressed the grapes into stainless steel tanks for cold settling before gently racking off juice lees. We inoculated the juice with select yeast strains I’d carefully chosen to enhance the wines aromas and flavours. Fermentation followed at cool temperatures which helps maintain Sauvignon Blanc’s unique aromas and flavours. The wine was left to settle on its yeast lees for a very short period before being racked back into stainless steel tanks for maturation. Then came the best part; blending! Once blended, the wine was stabilised, filtered and bottled, and sealed it with a screwcap closure to retain freshness.