Product Launch - GLOBAL: Pernod Ricard's Brancott Estate Chosen Rows Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2010

BRANCOTT ESTATE™ LAUNCHES ITS ULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF MARLBOROUGH SAUVIGNON BLANC

This February, pioneering New Zealand wine brand, Brancott Estate, is unveiling its first limited edition release Sauvignon Blanc – Brancott Estate Chosen Rows™ Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2010.  An age-worthy wine that displays seamless layers of texture and flavour complexity, the release is the culmination of nearly a decade’s journey to create the ultimate expression of Sauvignon Blanc and shape the next era of Marlborough’s signature varietal.

In 2004, Brancott Estate began investigating opportunities to create a different expression of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc that could become a true great of the vinous world – a wine to sit alongside Sauvignon Blanc icons from Bordeaux, Burgundy and Loire. Four years later, Brancott Estate embarked on the ‘Icon Project’ which examined the world’s top Sauvignon Blancs and challenged New Zealand’s winemaking and viticulture practices with the aim of producing a truly unique Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

To realise the brand’s vision, Brancott Estate collaborated with a number of vineyard managers, winemakers and research specialists, including Professor Denis Dubourdieu – one of the world’s top specialists in the ageing of white wines – to conduct a range of viticultural and vinification trials throughout the Marlborough region.  Every aspect of how Sauvignon Blanc had been grown in the past was challenged.

The result is Brancott Estate Chosen Rows™ Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2010. Fruit has been singled out from within Brancott Vineyard - low crop levels and perfect vine balance has resulted in a powerful expression and concentration of flavour. This hand-picked fruit from specially chosen rows of grape vines has produced an age-worthy wine that delivers great palate length and will slowly evolve, revealing more of itself in the coming ten years.   

Patrick Materman, Brancott Estate’s Chief Winemaker, says: “The research work we are undertaking internally is world-leading – our understanding of complex and age-worthy natural aroma compounds of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, together with our learnings of the soil types on Brancott Vineyard, has given us a unique opportunity to create this prestigious wine – the pinnacle of our winemaking.

“This project has been, and will continue to be, a long journey of discovery, involving many people working together to challenge every step of New Zealand’s winemaking and viticulture practices from the past four decades. The release of Brancott Estate Chosen Rows™ is testament to our on-going commitment to Marlborough and our pioneering vision, which led us to create the original Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc nearly 40 years ago.”

Brancott Estate will release 3,500 individually numbered limited edition bottles. ‘Brancott Estate Chosen Rows Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2010™’ will be available with an RRP of £35.

Original source: Company release