Mahana Gravity Sauvignon Blanc 2015

Description

Michael Glover, formerly of Bannockburn has a new home – the Mahana vineyard, a picture-perfect, 16-year-old, certified organic vineyard with a gravity fed, underground cellar that would be the envy of many a winemaker across the globe. The rolling hills of the Upper Moutere, near Nelson on the northern tip of the South Island of NZ is only a stone’s throw from the vineyard that he helped his father plant when he was a child.  Funded by hotelier, philanthropist and renowned art collector Glenn Schaeffer, Glover has been given carte blanche to create the greatest wines possible from what is clearly a superb terroir.
Mahana (meaning ‘warm place’) actually draws from two estate owned vineyards or terroirs – one in Moutere (where all the Pinot comes from) and one in the nearby Waimea area of Nelson (Sauvignon, Pinot Gris, etc). It was Moutere’s “incredible assets”, as Glover puts it, which was the reason he came back. As he puts it, “Combine these soils and sites with the Nelson climate, and you get Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling knocking at the winery door with perfect numbers and great difference. Terroir. No need for additions.”

Those who know the history of Michael Glover will know not to expect just another New Zealand Sauvignon – just as well as this is something very different.  Mahana’s ‘Gravity’ Sauvignon Blanc was picked ripe from Mahana’s Burke’s Bank vineyard in the Waimea area (where all of the Mahana Sauvignon and Pinot Gris derives). It’s is a powerful terroir and picking ripe, organic and dry grown Sauvignon turns up the volume in a major way. Glover has employed skin contact, wild yeasts, warm fermentation on solids and lees aging to bring complexity, but the power of the fruit still shines through. At this Gravity level it is still clearly a Sauvignon, with loads of smoky green melon, nectarine and crushed fresh herb aromatics, yet the palate is layered, textured, pulpy and bone dry (a rarity in NZ SB), and the seven months on lees has added enormous mouthfeel and complexity. There were no additions made at all until the wine was prepared for bottling with some SO2. Incredibly intense and dense for an entry level wine, with a juicy twist of skinsy grip, it will be fascinating to see what this does with a few more months in the bottle.

From Michael Glover, the winemaker … “The wine has a pale straw colour. The nose is quite savoury – certainly not the pungently fruit Marlborough style. This is a lot more restrained and perhaps a bit more ‘old world’ in character. It is quite gravelly, chalky and mineral driven on the nose. Even just a little smokey – ‘sauvage’. There is also a subtle citrus blossom character. The restraint carries to the palate, which is very textural and quite long. The wine has a lovely mid palate of weight and depth. It finishes appropriately dry and moreish.” 

RRP $26