It is quite rare that a Marlborough winery has a greater following for Pinot Noir than Sauvignon Blanc, but that is the case with Auntsfield. Pinot Noir is really the Cowleys’ passion and it shows with this wine. The 2022 season had regular rainfall and excellent growing conditions for the vines. This resulted in strong canopies but a smaller than average crop of grapes to harvest. The wet spring period over flowering lead to small berries and bunches, but rewarded vineyards who strive for lower cropping levels through meticulous canopy management. There was a slow progression into autumn with a drawn-out ripening period where the small crop of fruit reached optimum ripeness.
This wine was made with a minimalist philosophy, designed to reveal the characteristics of the grapes and the vineyard. The fruit was hand-harvested, hand-sorted, gently de-stemmed and gravity-fed to tank. About 70% remained as whole berries while the rest was crushed. The juice fermented with both indigenous yeast from Auntsfield vineyard and an inoculated yeast strain. Careful hand plunging was utilized to gently extract flavors and tannins from the skins over three weeks. Maturation occurred in French oak barriques (a small portion new) for 10 months before bottling with just a gentle crossflow filtration and small sulfur addition. No fining.