Astrolabe Taihoa Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2023

Taihoa single vineyard is located at the Southern-most coastal area of Marlborough, closely bordering Canterbury in the South. Its name ‘Taihoa’, in Maori means ‘wait, hold-on, patience’, emphasizing local fruit’s slow maturation time. Harvest normally takes place by mid-April, more than a month behind Marlborough’s Wairau plain.

Trolove family owns Taihoa vineyard. Different from most of Marlborough viticultural lands, soils nearby are free-draining. Loam with some fragmented limestone, instead of greyish eroded marl.

The vines have standard trellis with pruning to two canes with vertical shoot positioning. Vines are trimmed closely, well tucked, with extensive shoot thinning. Bunch thinning and leaf plucking are the methods used to delay ripening and increase exposure of the fruit for flavour development and acid reduction..

After the harvest, the fruits are whole cluster pressed and only the cuvee juice (first 50% of the pressed must weight) retained for fermentation in old barrels. The combination of wild yeast, fermentation on light grape solids and less stiring has added texture and interesting complexity to the nose. The delicate fruit handling has given the wine a racy and crisp structure.

Around 10 months of ageing in barrel for the wine was conducted before bottling. Very small fraction of barrels used had been new, which adds some interesting secondary aroma.