Cool weather over the flowering period in the spring meant that fertilization was slowed and hence the crop of grapes was substantially reduced. This has favoured extra concentration in the resulting wine. The summer weather which followed, however, was excellent, and the autumn warm and dry, enabling us to harvest optimally ripened, healthy fruit.

After gentle pressing of the grapes the juice was clarified and then slowly fermented at cool temperatures to help retain the natural, vibrant aromas and flavours, which are the essence of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Early bottling helped ensure that these were retained and encapsulated in the wine.

The wine is a pale lemon colour, shot with hints of jade. The aromas and flavours suggest passion-fruit, Turkish musk and tropical spices, with a background hint of ripe gooseberries and crushed herbs. The palate is rich and mouth-filling with a tangy, fresh backbone of citrus fruits, which linger on the palate and reverberate in the after-taste.

The 2008 Sauvignon Blanc is sourced from 21 separate plots, fermented with 50% wild yeasts and blended with 10% Semillon. An intense nose of cut grass, gooseberry and limestone leaps from the glass, the palate quite straightforward with crisp green fruits and a touch of herbaceousness towards the finish.

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. Wine Advocate Issue #176; Apr 2008 Neal Martin; The Wine Advocate