Rohe Blind River Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough

Rohe Blind River Sauvignon Blanc

Rohe, meaning territory in Te Reo Māori, is a range of wines created to showcase the unique flavours of Marlborough. Marlborough’s sub-regions are yet to be fully understood, each district offers distinct flavours and aromas. Through crafting wines exclusively from each winemaking sub-region the Rohe range of wines highlight the individual sub-regional flavours and share our perspective of this remarkable region we call home. Made in individual quantities, each bottle features a bespoke illustration of a Marlborough sub-region.

Sub-region

Blind River is the driest, coolest and most wind-swept sub-region of Marlborough. Located on Marlborough’s Southern Coast, the soils of this sub-region are defined by the Blind River catchment and made up of deep, free-draining loams over a diverse composition of stone materials. Grapes grown in this sub-region develop unique and intensified flavours as the grapevines are naturally restricted. Sauvignon Blanc from Blind River displays trademark citrus, lemongrass and herbaceous characters.

Tasting Notes

Intensely aromatic with lemongrass and ripe citrus aromas and concentrated fruit flavour. The palate is weighty with mouth-filling layers of ripe grapefruit, lemongrass and melon. The mouth-watering acidity helps drive a lengthy finish.

Winemaking Notes

The 2021 vintage was one of the earliest and shortest on record. The growing season was the third in a series of drought vintages, the stress on the vines was compounded by a huge wind run. The combination of some early frost events and a poor flowering resulted in lower yields and smaller bunches than usual. This, combined with the dry conditions, has meant that disease levels are incredibly low this year, resulting in better flavours and pristine fruit with good concentration. After harvest, the Blind River Sauvignon Blanc was gently pressed before individual parcels were batch fermented in stainless steel with selected yeast strains to retain the vibrant fruit characters unique to this sub-region. Once fermentation was complete, the wine was racked, stabilised and filtered before bottling.

Cellaring Recommendation

This wine is immediately expressive but will continue to drink well for the next five years.

2021 Tasting Note 2020 Tasting Note