Winemaker Notes
Diamond-clear with lime green highlights, Cape Crest Sauvignon Blanc ’19 gives ripe tropical fruit, complexity and length for days. Aromas of yuzu, guava, kaffir lime and luscious white nectarine give way to palate of passionfruit, grapefruit, gooseberry, pear and crushed herbs, with just hint of sea-salt and smoke at the end of the long dry finish. A wine with great ageing potential as well as concentrated fruit, walking a long green tightrope between elegant and refreshing.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Cape Crest Sauvignon Blanc is full of thrust and vibrancy, with wheatgrass and lemongrass, white pepper and kiwi fruit. It has a white pineapple character—the part of the fruit that's close to the core or the crust and not sweet. This is lean and tight with a brilliant finish that courses over the palate.
-
James Suckling
A complex and composed, barrel-fermented style that has wide-ranging aromas, from dried flowers through citrus and tropical fruit to fresh almond. The palate has very elegant, long and intense style with grilled-lemon and passion-fruit flavors. Impressively long and layered palate. Drink now.
-
Wine Enthusiast
This vintage of Cape Crest, Te Mata’s renowned barrel-fermented SB (with a little Semillon and Sauvignon Gris) is singing. Typical to Hawke’s Bay, this is about fleshy fruit without a trace of the pungent, green veg characters found elsewhere in NZ. The bright fruit aromas are harmonized by floral, honeyed, buttery toast. The palate comes with almost bracing acidity compared with the gentleness of the nose, but it’s balanced by silky textural components and depth of flavor. This SB demonstrates Te Mata’s classic winemaking style along with the deep well of Hawke’s Bay flavors. Drink now–2026.
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 eclectic region on the east coast of the North Island, Hawkes Bay extends from wide, fertile, coastal plains, inland, to the coast range, whose peaks reach as high as 5,300 feet. While the flatter areas were historically more popular because they are easier to cultivate, their alluvial soils can be too fertile for vines. In the late 20th century, the drive for quality led growers to the hills where soils are free-draining, limestone-rich and more suited to producing high quality wines.
Over the passing of time, the old Ngaruroro River laid down deep, gravelly beds, which were subsequently exposed after a huge flood in the 1860’s. In the 1980s growers identified this stretch, which continues for approximately 800 ha, and named it the Gimblett Gravels. The zone has proven to be ideal for the production of excellent red wines, particularly Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah.
Today the area takes well-earned recognition for its Bordeaux blends and other reds. Expressive of intense stewed red and black berry with gentle herbaceous characters, Gimblett Gravels wines are suggestive of their cool climate origin, and on par with other top-notch Bordeaux blends around the globe.
Chardonnay is the top white grape in Hawkes Bay, making elegant wines, strong in stone fruit character. Sauvignon blanc comes in close behind, notable for its tropical, fruit forward qualities.