This wine is a blend of fruit from our vineyards with varying soil characteristics. Fruit sourced from the Home vineyard on the upper terraces encompassed five parcels of varied Waimakiriri type soils of alluvial origin with free-draining basalt pebbles. This was supplemented by portions from the Tatou and Raupo Creek vineyards, where the soils are a mixture of alluvial shingles with slightly higher clay contents.

The earlier ripening period of the 2006 vintage, initiated by early flowering, allowed us to leave the Sauvignon Blanc hanging on the vines until we felt the flavours were optimum. We hand picked the Sauvignon Blanc between March 12th and April 6th. Again this year we were able to utilise the clones of Semillon maturing at our Raupo Creek vineyard and we hand picked the Semillon parcels on April 11th.

The fruit from the different vineyard blocks were all whole-cluster pressed and then fermented separately so that we had a great range of options when creating the final blend.

Indigenous yeasts and a selection of cultured yeasts were utilised for fermentation, for added complexity and texture. A small percentage of the blend (approximately 10%) were fermented in older French barriques to add depth, which when combined with regular batonnage, contributes a yeasty creaminess to fill the mid-palate. The indigenous yeast, barrel-fermentation, and extended lees contact are all used to contribute complexity, texture, and integration to this wine.