Clark Estate River Terrace Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2022

Clark Estate River Terrace Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2022Dry style Stone fruit Gooseberries Structured "It's beautifully aromatic on the nose with kiwifruit, kaffir lime, basil and white floral aromas, followed by a wonderfully flavoursome palate that's filled with bright fruit flavours backed by juicy acidity, offering excellent drinking. At its best: now to 2025" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Feb 2023 "Pungent and classically styled bouquet with aromas of cape gooseberries and passion fruit, then fresh red apple

• Dry style
• Stone fruit
• Gooseberries
• Structured

"It's beautifully aromatic on the nose with kiwifruit, kaffir lime, basil and white floral aromas, followed by a wonderfully flavoursome palate that's filled with bright fruit flavours backed by juicy acidity, offering excellent drinking. At its best: now to 2025" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Feb 2023

"Pungent and classically styled bouquet with aromas of cape gooseberries and passion fruit, then fresh red apple and basil leaves. On the palate there’s an equal amount of energy with a bold acid line then fruit flavours that mirror the bouquet along with fresh herbs and a whisp of jalapeno. Well made and ready to drink from day of purchase through end of summer 2025" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Mar 2023

The 2022 River Terrace Sauvignon Blanc is delightfully aromatic with lifted notes of cool climate stone fruits, blackcurrant bud and gooseberries filling the glass. There is an abundance of fruit weight on the palate which is structured and well balanced, with refreshing mineral acidity.

The Upper Awatere valley is well known for its rugged soils and unforgiving climate, but also the many river terraces that jigsaw their way down the valley. Their river terraces sit amongst the foothills of the Blackbirch range, and the vines grown here are quite different to other terraces along the valley as a result. Their River Terrace Sauvignon Blanc is a pure expression of their terroir. They have created wines that are unencumbered by the effect of higher alcohol, letting the pristine flavours of the Upper Awatere shine and give these wines a definite sense of place.

Their main terrace is home for our Sauvignon Blanc vines, which are made up of different blocks depending on the soils beneath. The vines for these wines come from block 6. The soils in this block are very stoney with little loam. As a result, the vines crop much lower yields, and therefore ripen flavours much earlier than the sugars can accumulate. Naturally these wines will have lower alcohol but with the full spectrum of intense flavours only the Upper Awatere can give.

Harvested in the cool of the evening, the grapes were gently pressed and the juice was fermented under very cool conditions to retain the intensity of the flavours. Once dry, the wine was left on yeast lees to develop even more complex flavours.