Makara Sauvignon Blanc 2014
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Wine Spectator
Vibrant and intense, offering vivid lemongrass, pink grapefruit and lemon zest flavors that are bright and juicy, with a sleek, peppery finish.
Makara Sauvignon Blanc, offering extraordinary quality at an exceptional value, is sourced from two valleys within the Marlborough wine region, which is renowned the world over for its outstanding flavor characteristics.
Approximately 70% of the Sauvignon Blanc is from the Wairau Valley with its warmer, wetter climate and shallow, stony and fast-draining soils that create conditions perfectly suited to Sauvignon Blanc. The basic flavor characteristics of passion fruit, flint, gooseberry, capsicum, grapefruit and tropical fruits are what make the Wairau Valley Sauvignon Blanc unique and celebrated. To insure the wine is beautifully balanced, 30% of the fruit is sourced from the Awatere Valley with characteristics resembling the famous wines of Sancerre in style contributing a crispness, and minerality.
Makara's compelling packaging evokes an expectation of the crisp, fruity, tropical flavors within the bottle. Enjoy!
Capable of a vast array of styles, Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, refreshing variety that equally reflects both terroir and varietal character. Though it can vary depending on where it is grown, a couple of commonalities always exist—namely, zesty acidity and intense aromatics. This variety is of French provenance. Somm Secret—Along with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. That green bell pepper aroma that all three varieties share is no coincidence—it comes from a high concentration of pyrazines (herbaceous aromatic compounds) inherent to each member of the family.
An icon and leading region of New Zealand's distinctive style of Sauvignon blanc, Marlborough has a unique terroir, making it ideal for high quality grape production (of many varieties). Despite some common generalizations, which could be fairly justified given that Marlborough is responsible for 90% of New Zealand's Sauvignon blanc production, the wines from this region are actually anything but homogenous. At the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, the vineyards of Marlborough benefit from well-draining, stony soils, a dry, sunny climate and wide temperature fluctuations between day and night, a phenomenon that supports a perfect balance between berry ripeness and acidity.
The region’s king variety, Sauvignon blanc, is beloved for its pungent, aromatic character with notes of exotic tropical fruit, freshly cut grass and green bell pepper along with a refreshing streak of stony minerality. These wines are made in a wide range of styles, and winemakers take advantage of various clones, vineyard sites, fermentation styles, lees-stirring and aging regimens to differentiate their bottlings, one from one another.
Also produced successfully here are fruit-forward Pinot noirs (especially where soils are clay-rich), elegant Riesling, Pinot gris and Gewürztraminer.