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‘VIVID, BRIGHT’ NEW ZEALAND SAUVIGNON BLANC FROM FAVORITE PRODUCER!

“New Zealand is one of those New World wine regions that is constantly improving in quality while retaining excellent value. This Sauvignon Blanc from Mohua Wines is a perfect example. Coming from one of Marlborough’s highest quality sub-regions, the Wairau Valley, it strikes a perfect balance between juicy citrus and tropical fruit with the typical herbaceous notes of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Rated 90 points by Wine Spectator and under $10 a bottle, this wine over delivers! It's perfect to sip at the beach or by the pool...” –Glen Knight, The Wine House
2015 Mohua Sauvignon Blanc
Marlborough, New Zealand
90 Points Wine Spectator
$9.99
All the pieces fall into place, with lime, mango and green apple flavors that are bright and juicy, revealing a touch of pineapple on the vivid, bright finish. Drink now.” –MaryAnn Worobiec, Wine Spectator, October 2016

FROM THE WINERY

In the heart of the world-class Wairau Valley, we source our fruit from sub-regions selected for the distinct characteristics each location brings to the wine. These vineyards enjoy bright, cool climatic conditions that promote a long, slow ripening period and intensified flavours. Careful yield control then guarantees exceptional fruit from one of the globe’s finest sauvignon blanc regions.

Sub Region: Lower Wairau, Wairau Valley and Southern Valleys
Harvest Date Range: 21 March – 10 April
Tasting Notes: Ripe and juicy tropical fruits, rich stone fruit and fresh cut lime combined with notes of fresh picked summer herbs.

ABOUT MOHUA WINES


Generations in the making, Mohua Wines was founded in 2009 to create exceptional wines from some of New Zealand’s highest quality regions. Driven by one family’s passion for great wine-making, our focus is on merging that vision with sustainable practices to craft wines that capture the essence of their environment, while improving the land that creates them. Great wine begins in the vineyard – we help it on its journey.

Owned and managed by two generations of the McLachlan family, Mohua Wines combines a talent and love for great wine-making with the desire to preserve and enhance the land from which it comes. Driven by the wish to create lasting wines from some of the finest grape sources in the southern hemisphere, our family is intimately involved with every aspect of the business, bringing a balance of professional expertise and agricultural skill to every stage of production. Experience is at the heart of great wine making, but a fine wine is only created where there is pleasure in the process itself. Our love of the vintner’s art means it is not our work – but our passion.

Conservation
Mohua Wines is proud to play an active role in helping protect the beautiful Mohua, one of New Zealand's rarest birds. Found only in the most remote parts of the South Island's pristine rain forests, the Mohua currently occupies less than 5% of its original territory. Their tenuous grip on survival is a direct result of the predators introduced to New Zealand over a century ago, including stoats, rats and possums, which prey on eggs as well as hunting adult birds. In partnership with the Department of Conservation (DOC), Mohua wines provides financial support for protection initiatives, as well as assisting personally with relocation and sanctuary programs. Mohua Wines is committed to helping ensure these stunning choristers flourish and regain their rightful place among New Zealand's unique fauna.

LISA PERROTTI-BROWN FROM ROBERT PARKER’S THE WINE ADVOCATE ON MARLBOROUGH

Marlborough is quite possibly the greatest new-region success story of our lifetimes. In fact, I pushed it forward as a positive role model in a "China Wine Industry Summit" speech I recently gave at ProWine in Shanghai on the topic of, "Opportunities and Pitfalls for Foreign Investment in the Chinese wine growing industry from an international viewpoint." Wine, most notably Sauvignon Blanc, has only really been produced in Marlborough on a significant commercial scale since the early 1980s. In fact, the story pretty much began in 1973 when Montana purchased a large swath of vineyard land in parcels in Marlborough for about NZ$100-250 per hectare. By 1979 another early pioneer, Ernie Hunter (of Hunter's) bought land there for $3000 / ha. Now viticultural land is selling at around $120,000 / ha...and that's come down a lot since the real estate peak in 2007/8 of $250,000 (before the oversupply situation caused by the large 2008 crops).

Today, 72% of the wine produced in New Zealand is Sauvignon Blanc and 86% of NZ's wine exports are mono-varietal wines of this grape. And out of the 20,027 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc planted in NZ, nearly 90% of this is planted in Marlborough. So Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is BIG business for NZ. Of course the question on everyone's lips is how sustainable is this overwhelming reliance on one grape / style?

After a somewhat lackluster visit to Marlborough a few years ago, I wrote that the region appeared like someone had randomly thrown a giant Sauvignon Blanc blanket over it. Indeed, for a while there it looked like Marlborough was in danger of becoming a victim of its own success. The dark side of this success story was evident by the early noughties: the overwhelming consumer demand for that Marlborough-Sauvignon-taste had many large companies throwing differentiation (beyond brand name and label design) to the wind. It became easy to employ economies of scale towards producing vast yields and staggering volumes of everyday, affordable, me-too Brand Marlborough blandness, which pandered to lowest common denominator taste. Don't get me wrong, these brands were/are still way better than their lower to mid-price point counterparts from most other wine regions of the world. The consistency of quality and style achieved was/is truly remarkable. But what happens when even the lowest common denominator gets bored of that taste? With very little else featured on Marlborough's wine list, the cleverest producers including most of the major brand owners soon realized that too much of a good thing is never a good thing and they were going to have to mix the offering up or risk having their grapes all in one basket.

Sub-region, complexity and ageability are the buzz-words these days in Marlborough. More and more producers such as Astrolabe are looking to highlight sub-regional differences with dedicated bottlings from the Wairau Valley, the Awatere and Kekerengu, if not single vineyard and block wines. At the same time a growing number of producers are encouraged by the success of Cloudy Bay's ground-breaking Te Koko and developing their own take on barrel fermented, wild yeast styles of Sauvignon Blanc that have real ageing potential. And who better to refine this style than former Cloudy Bay winemakers Kevin Judd (now doing his signature "Wild" thing under the Greywacke label) and Ivan Sutherland / James Healy at Dog Point. These two producers in particular are also now forging some of the region's finest Chardonnays. Meanwhile the "Southern Valleys" sub-region is developing into a stand-out region for Pinot Noirs (particularly on the hillside sites) with Fromm, Dog Point, Terravin, Churton, Spy Valley, Clos Henri and Auntsfield leading the pack. I'd like to think that these recent changes in production ambitions mark where we begin to see that Sauvignon Blanc blanket over the region being redeveloped into a Marlborough patch-work quilt, focusing on differentiation achieved both with new styles of the hugely successful Sauvignon Blanc grape and with other terroir compatible grape varieties.

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