Meet The Marlborist - wild yeast, full malo, subtle Grande Sauvignon
Posted by Joelle Thomson on
Meet The Marlbororist Grande Sauvignon. A collaboration between three friends led to the creation of Marlborough's newest dry white wine and it's not the usual style from this country's biggest white wine region. A portion of whole bunch fermentation, wild yeasts and full malolactic all adding creamy bells and subtle nuances to the lively and lovely new The Marlborist Grande Sauvignon. It is in store now and superbly tasty - buy The Marlborist here. And read on to learn more.
The friends are Richard Ellis, winemaker; Stuart Dudley, viticulturist and David Nash, brand man.
The Marlborist Grande Sauvignon RRP $37.99
The newly launched 2021 The Marlborist Grande Sauvignon is a creamy, fresh and soft take on the country's most popular white grape - Sauvignon Blanc
It has all the flavours that make it recognisable as Sauvignon Blanc but it's also imbued with complexity from fermentation in a mixture of older French barrels and older French oak puncheons (300 litres) in which the wine went through spontaneous malolactic fermentation with what Ellis describes as "occasional lees stirring", a winemaking technique also known as battonage which builds texture and mouthfeel into this wine. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered to retain flavour and mouthfeel.
"The 2021 year was arguably one of the best vintages in recent times and our latest release provide a good indication as to the direction The Marlborist wines are headed," says Ellis.
We have two of The Marlborist wines in store at Regional Wines & Spirits, the new 2021 The Marlborist Grande Sauvignon and the 2020 The Marlborist Chardonnay.
"A gentle, hands off approach is applied in the winery with the aim of creating beautifully expressive, elegant wines that reflect and respect the site, the season and the region," says Ellis.
The new 2021 The Marlborist Chardonnay is a subtly smooth, full bodied and bone dry white with oatmeal nuances and a creamy mouthfeel, layers of fresh citrusy flavour and a lingering fresh finish.
* Both of these dry full bodied white are in store at Regional now