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Saint Clair Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2009
In 1978, Neal and Judy Ibbotson became one of the original grape
growers In Marlborough, initially supplying other local wine
companies. They had a great drive to produce a quality product from
the vineyard to bottle which led to the creation of the business we
know today as Saint Clair Family Estate. It is now an international
wine company exporting to over 50 markets worldwide, but still
remains family owned and committed to quality.
The Saint Clair quality assessment selection, developed in the
vineyard and the winery has identified sub-regions of Marlborough
that produce superior Sauvignon Blanc. During harvest, award winning
Saint Clair winemaker, Matt Thomson also spends most of his time in
the vineyard and makes the call to pick based on quality flavours.
As a result, Saint Clair has accumulated 47trophies and 133 gold
medals over the lst eight years.
Each vintage offers its own challenges, and with unseasonably cold
weather in Marlborough during February, it looked like 2009 might be
one of the more challenging ones. The warm sunny days and cool
nights that Marlborough is known for returned though and continued
through to the end of April.
Matt Thomson comments, “The 2009 vintage looked like it could be one
of our most difficult by late February, but ended up being the most
relaxed vintage I’ve ever been part of with warm, sunny days and
cool nights that continued through to the end of April. We think the
2009 Sauvignons are some of our best ever.”
The unseasonable weather in February did however mean that the
harvest was delayed slightly compared to 2008, with the first of the
harvest beginning in early april and the last grapes harvested on
10th May. Once fermented, the wine was selected from Saint Clair’s
130 small Sauvignon Blanc tanks for quality, with only the best
components finding their way to the bottle.
I found the pale straw coloured Saint Clair Marlborough Sauvignon
Blanc to have vibrant aromas of blackcurrant, gooseberry and
passionfruit with citrus notes of grapefruit. On the palate, I found
intense fruit flavours, particularly of blackcurrant, gooseberry and
passionfruit with a hint of herbal notes. This is still a young wine
and should be still at its best for two years. I would recommend
trying it with fresh seafood.
Reviewed by Stephen Clark (31/8/2009)
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