Celebrating the sav blanc harvest

BY DEBORAH WALTON AND PETER MORICE

Another harvest is well and truly over and the Marlborough landscape is magnificent in all its autumn glory.

The next big event on the wine calendar will be the release of the brand-new 2010 vintage sauvignon blancs. This important event deserves a great deal more fanfare than it receives and Marlborough could consider a celebration similar to the one that surrounds the release of beaujolais nouveau in France.

From as early as the 19th century the first wines of the beaujolais vintage were shipped down the Saone River to the bistros of Lyon. Upon arrival, signs would be put out stating "Le beaujolais est arrivee!" The wine's consumption was seen by all as the celebration of another successful harvest.

Skip ahead a century and in 1985 the Institut National des Appellations d'Origine established the third Thursday of November as Beaujolais Nouveau Day, a uniform release date for the wine.

Today beaujolais is usually shipped a few days earlier to other locations around the world where the cases must be held in a bonded warehouse until 12.01am on the third Thursday of November when the wines can be opened and enjoyed.

While the idea of a Beaujolais Nouveau Day-style celebration for the launch of Marlborough sauvignon blanc seems a great idea, it pays to remember the wines are two quite different beasts.

Beaujolais nouveau is the lightest, fruitiest style of beaujolais, made for easy drinking.

The gamay grapes are harvested between late August and early September, the juice is fermented for just a few days and released on Beaujolais Nouveau Day. The wines are drunk as young as possible when they are at their freshest and fruitiest. They can last up to two years but there's no advantage in holding the wine that long as it has lost most of its characteristic flavours by that time.

By contrast, a well-made sauvignon blanc can deliver a fabulous drinking experience years down the track. We recently opened a Hunter's Wines Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc bottled in 2000 that was rich, stone-fruity and very enjoyable.

A vintage day would be a great chance for people across the province to come together and celebrate the bounty that follows harvest.

Montana Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2009

Aroma: A spiky aroma, very herbaceous, mineral and displaying some strong, sweaty notes – one to prickle the nose.

Taste: Displays a crisp mineral flavour, some pleasant lemon zest and richer tropical notes. Skin phenolics give the wine structure and some aromatic grunt.

Uniform across the palate, start to finish – a well-balanced zesty, crisp, classic Marlborough sauvignon blanc with a generous dash of gooseberry.

Price: Always good value, $17.99.

Curio d'Auvergne Vineyard Wairau Valley Gewurztraminer 08

Aroma: Classic – all rose petals and turkish delight with some rich apricot nectar and damascus nougat adding depth and richness. Perfumed and fabulous.

Taste: A spicy, warming wine with rich rose petal and turkish delight flavours. There's a generous lick of caramel and some green tannin (the result of whole-bunch pressing or skin contact) sitting in the background and a sherbet-like sensation adds interest to the finish.

Altogether a complex, warm, rich and flavoursome wine displaying good balance; the lick of residual sugar and a bit of tannic grip wrap things up well.

Price: A well made, approachable wine, well worth $27.90.

Bladen Marlborough Pinot Noir 07

Colour: Clear, garnet.

Aroma: Spice and dark berries, ripe plums and some appealing minty leafiness. A rich, ripe, jammy aroma displaying some pleasing oak. Smells good.

Taste: Blackberries and plums, light spicy oak; that leafy, herbal aroma also comes through on the palate. Firm tannins, full flavour, a rewarding pinot with a sweet fruity finish and aftertaste.

Price: A lively, thoroughly enjoyable pinot for around $33.

Domaine Chandon Heathcote Shiraz 06

Another beauty from this superb Aussie producer.

Colour: Crimson on a black background, inky and dense.

Aroma: The lovely rich smell of old barrels combines with smoke, plums pepper and eucalypt – all the usual protagonists are present in this top-notch shiraz. The aroma is glorious in its complexity – woody, earthy jammy and rich.

Taste: A ripe, full palate delivering plenty of spice, pepper and ripe, intense fruit flavour. The soft, furry tannins and fine acids are perfectly poised while some herbal notes provide balance and a foil for the sweet fruity ripeness.

This wine's a big, juicy number that finishes with an aftertaste of blackberries and plums complemented by a lick of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Price: An absolute bargain at just $33.

Sacred Hill Halo Marlborough Pinot Gris 09

Aroma: Rich, tropical and leesy on the nose, exotic notes of lychee, guava and pear predominate, helped along by a confected whiff of candy floss.

Taste: A pinot gris with plenty to offer the palate – taut, crisp with some green apple and pear flavour soon giving way to gentle stone fruit and some warming ginger spiciness. There's flint in the finish which adds to the attraction. This is an elegant pinot gris reminiscent of Alsatian examples – weighty without being overbearing – very rewarding drinking.

Price: Good buying at $25.90.

- The Marlborough Express