The certified organic fruit comes from selected parcels in the Seresin home block vineyard which surrounds the winery. The fruit used for the 2006 Marama comes from our oldest Sauvignon Blanc vines and makes up the ripest portion of our Sauvignon Blanc harvest. The grapes were hand picked between March 20 and April 5. The fruit was hand-sorted then whole-bunch pressed, before being transferred directly to French Burgundian barriques, twenty five percent of which were new. The juice and solids were left to undergo spontaneous fermentation using natural yeast, followed by partial natural malolatic fermentation. The wine was then left in barrel on yeast lees for fifteen months, with regular stirring.

The Marama has its own identity, richly textured it exhibits aromas of citrus and passionfruit with a hint truffle. The palate is complex with tropical fruit and melon, creme caramel and a long, lingering finish. This wine should develop well over the next eight years.

Cinematographer Michael Seresin does not own Harry Potter’s magic wand to make great Marlborough wine, but he does have the second best thing in the form of estate manager Colin Ross, an Australian who makes Nicolas Joly look a lightweight biodynamist. Having purchased his first 167-acre parcel of vines in the Wairau in 1992 that constitutes the “Home Vineyard,” Seresin’s wines debuted with the 1996 vintage; since then he has purchased the “Raupo Creek Vineyard” in Omaka, which is undergoing organic conversion and the “Tatou Vineyard” at the western end of the Wairau Valley. All fruit is sourced from these parcels, hand-picked and sorted before being whole-bunch pressed with young English-born winemaker Clive Dougall in charge of the winemaking. Seresin is certainly a name to look out for, producing some wonderful, complex, natural wines. Neal Martin; Wine Advocate