Cloudy Bay

40 Grape Anticipation

W in ery Profile

C l o u d y B ay

V i n e ya r d s The famed New Zealand winery continues to impress with its bright, jazzy versions of Sauvignon Blanc

By Steve Stevens

All images courtesy Möet Hennessy USA

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T i m H e at h

broke his leg badly on a hard-to-reach ski slope in New Zealand.

But that’s not the interesting part. The interesting part is that, for New Zealanders and their Australian neighbors, hurting yourself is no big deal. “We really don’t think too much about it over there,” Heath laughed.

Heath is Australian by birth but currently part of the winemaking team for New Zealand’s famed Cloudy Bay Vineyards. He visited Atlanta in February touting Cloudy Bay’s new releases to a group at the Buckhead Club.

While it is true that being a little reckless is part of New Zealand’s national character, the opposite seems true of that country’s best wines.

They often taste as if they were made by someone who was slightly obsessive: supremely balanced and carefully structured, rather than feral and erratic. The new selections from Cloudy Bay are no exception, even though the indigenous yeast used in the 2007 Te Koko Sauvignon Blanc certainly nudges it in that wilder direction.

As good as New Zealand’s reputation for wine has become, it wasn’t always so.

In fact, there was a time when finding a decent bottle of native wine in New Zealand was about as likely as finding a vegetarian at The Varsity. Heath’s winery played a big part in changing that culture.

Cloudy Bay planted the Marlborough region’s first vines in 1973, when it was considered an enormously risky move. An international market for New Zealand wine did not even exist yet, and

estate-made wine is a hugely expensive endeavor. But the Sauvignon Blanc was so well-received, it almost single-handedly created that market.

Since then, New Zealand in general and especially Marlborough and Cloudy Bay have become somewhat synonymous with Sauvignon Blanc. But Sauvignon Blanc is not native to the land of the kiwis. Its classic expression is found in France’s Loire Valley, particularly in Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé. Outside the Loire, it can make outstanding white Bordeaux and is widely planted in Languedoc-Roussillon.

Vines line the fields in front Additionally, DNA profilof Cloudy Bay’s winery ing gave the grape a pedigree boost in 1997 when it was discovered that Sauvignon Blanc is actually a parent of Cabernet Sauvignon, the great red grape responsible for many of the world’s most intense, complex and well-regarded wines.

With Sauvignon Blanc already well-established in some of the world’s greatest wine regions, how did Cloudy Bay and New Zealand become so inextricably linked with the grape? The reasons any wine or wine region achieve success are many and varied, but first the wine has to be good; and, to that end, it helps that Cloudy Bay’s winery and vineyards are in Marlborough’s Wairau Valley.

In Wairau, at the northern tip of the South Island, vineyards are reputed to get more hours of sunlight than anywhere else in New Zealand. It’s that exposure to the sun mediated by the cool winds from the Southern Pacific that helps imbue the area’s Sauvignon Blanc with the vigorous tropical fruit flavor profile that has become its trademark.

As good as New Zealand’s reputation for wine has become, it wasn’t always so.

42 Grape Anticipation

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The winemaking and growing team, from left to right: chief winemaker Kevin Judd, senior winemaker Eveline Fraser, viticulturist Siobán Harnett, winemakers Tim Heath and Nick Blampied-Lane.

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But certainly part of the reason for Marlborough’s success is also that its expression of Sauvignon Blanc is so markedly different from the grape’s traditional French voicing. While the two styles share Sauvignon’s lively acidity, nuts and bright tropical fruits generally dominate the New Zealand versions, while the French versions tend to be more subtle and layered.

In any case, quality and consistency seem to be driving factors in why New Zealand and Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc have risen to such heights. Still, even the best wine operations see their share of down vintages. So just as a winemaker might break his leg on the slopes, the best wineries might stumble occasionally, tripped up by bad weather or mistakes in the winery. But as with any job worth tackling, the question is not whether you’ll fall, but whether you’ll get back up after you do. So far, Cloudy Bay keeps getting back up.

Steve Stevens is a writer and editor and has been covering wine since 2003.

2008 Cloudy Bay Vineyards, Chardonnay

2008 Cloudy Bay Vineyards, Sauvignon Blanc

2007 Cloudy Bay Vineyards, Te Koko

Savory with a touch of spiciness, this goldcolored Chardonnay has a hefty mid-palate and a subtle heat rising slightly on the creamy finish. Peach, apple and honey dominate the palate. Acid is mild to fresh. Flavors are layered and even.

Balanced with a round mouthfeel, this wine delivers elegance and power in equal measure. Marlborough’s classic lime and nuttiness shine through on the palate and the nose. Acid is lively. A fine expression of the region’s best grape.

Feral yeasts define this wine, giving it a pleasant, aggressive mouthfeel. Floral aromas and spice lead to a palate rife with herbaceous notes and lemon rind. This wine is a great example of an alternative style of Sauvignon Blanc.

Marlborough, New Zealand

Marlborough, New Zealand

Marlborough, New Zealand

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