Te Koko

A "season of everything" climatically, saved by a very settled autumn that produced classic Marlborough flavours.

A "season of everything" climatically, saved by a very settled autumn that produced classic Marlborough flavours.



Forget all you know about New Zealand's Sauvignon Blanc

Cloudy Bay broke the winemaking rules to create a sophisticated style of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc made through wild fermentation and aging in old French oak.


Nose
A fragrant nose of toasted nuts, fresh thyme, lemon curd and nectarines. Hints of exotic florals and smokey notes intrique
Palate
Mouthfilling with ample ripe tropical fruit and lemon sorbet, rounded by mealy complexity
Marlborough
A blend of six of our Sauvignon Blanc vineyards located within the Rapaura, Brancott and Renwick sub-regions
Free-draining gravel based soils with shallow sandy-loam horizons
overcast clouds
Today
17°C
63°F
Jim White
Technical Director
Te Koko is a far more experimental expression of Sauvignon Blanc; it has a completely different winemaking process; which gave us a really opulent Te Koko 2009.
How it was made

Harvest

Batches of fruit from five vineyards were picked according to flavour profile. Our grapes were harvested in the cool of night to preserve fruit fl avour and loaded immediately into our presses. 

Vinification

After settling the juice for a period of two to three days, the juice was racked directly to French oak barrel (less than 10% of which were new) and allowed to undergo a slow wild or “natural” fermentation. The primary fermentation, which took until December (8 months) to completein some batches, was followed by a spontaneous malolactic fermentation. The wine was left in barrel on yeast lees until October 2010, when it was racked and lightly fi ned for clarity. The wine was bottled mid November.

Must know
Te Koko 2009
Marlborough
  • For consumption 10°C 12°C
  • Cellaring potential 10Years
    min
  • Alcohol 14.3 %
  • Vintage 2009
  • pH 3.30
  • Varietal Sauvignon Blanc
  • Bottling November 2010
  • Harvest Saturday, April 4, 2009 to Thursday, April 23, 2009
  • Residual sugar 2.0 g/L
  • Acid 6.1 g/L
  • Closure Screwcap