From the vineyard: Ohau Gravels Ohau Sauvignon Blanc 2011 – $$
I get really excited about wine from this vineyard. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t expected something so good the first time I tried their product: the operation looked so modest. The vineyard is outside of Levin. Levin! It’s on the edge of State Highway 1. Cars, trucks, rush past at 100kms/hr. The cellar door is under the house, in what might have once been the garage…
But the first giveaway is the attention to detail on the elegant labels; then it’s the neat rows in the vineyard; then there’s the reference to an Ohau Gravels appellation…
Anyway, their pinot noir got me at hello.
And now it’s September 1st, the first day of spring around here, and what a good day to open a nice bottle of sauvignon blanc to toast the new season. I bought it on my way back from the ski weekend.
It’s straw colour in the glass, brilliant. 12.5%. The wine shows a light and expressive bouquet of lime and green apple, with a hint of spice. In the mouth it is medium weight. Smooth. Round. None of the typical Marlborough grassy ‘wince’ factor. It has been matured in some oak to make it more food friendly, not that savs need much help there. It is mature, with pronounced tannins, and I taste the green apples. Fairly short. It evolves in the glass and gets fruitier and more complex. Buy. 4.
