2022 Te Mata Estate "Cape Crest" Hawke's Bay Sauvignon Blanc

Cape Crest is New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc made the way white Bordeaux is made: barrel fermented, raised on its lees and blended with small portions of Sauvignon Gris and Semillon. It is named for Cape Kidnappers, the headland at the southern end of Hawke Bay, and comes from Te Mata Estate, which made its first official vintage in 1896, one of only two New Zealand wineries with roots in the 1800s. The estate still works in the cellars the Chambers family built; since 1974 the Buck and Morris families have run it on estate grown fruit alone, and Te Mata is regarded as the benchmark house of Hawke's Bay. For 2022 the blend is 88% Sauvignon Blanc, 7% Sauvignon Gris and 5% Semillon, hand picked from individual estate plots between late February and mid March, briefly skin macerated, then fermented in new and seasoned French oak and kept on its lees with regular stirring for 11 months before bottling in February 2023. The result is broader and more textural than stainless steel New Zealand Sauvignon, citrus and stone fruit carried by oak and lees, and the estate rates it for cellaring up to ten years.