MEANWHILE AT VILLA MARIA

Villa Maria’s Marlborough winemaker Helen Morrison must be counting her blessings right now. Since 2005 the winery has made limited quantities of its Research & Development wines which provide an outlet for winemakers to explore different techniques and individual parcels of grapes. This year Helen took things outside, fermenting 1.5 tonnes of whole bunches of sauvignon blanc grapes in the organic vineyard block, using wild yeasts in the air.

“We were incredibly lucky that it didn’t rain for the 18 days the grapes were in the field fermenting,” she says. “I’d contemplated setting up an umbrella if it did, as rain in the wine is not a good option.” The ferment is now pressed and safely in the winery to mature.

“This particular style, sauvignon blanc fermented on skins, was introduced in 2015,” she says. “We also made a 2016 R&D sauvignon on skins. We used organic fruit, and made no additions to the wine (no yeast, no finings, no sulphur). We made two versions in 2016, one that stayed on skins for 18 days (same as in 2015) and the other stayed on skins for 130 days. We have yet to decide which one will be bottled as we don’t expect to bottle it until the end of this year.”

Only 1500 numbered bottles of one wine are sold under the R&D label at any time, offering something new for wine lovers as well. The 2015 R&D Sauvignon Blanc On

Skins, $24.99, is now on sale at Villa Maria’s Auckland and Marlborough cellar doors. If well received, R&D wines will be added to the Villa Maria Estate Range. The winemaker chosen for the initiative has three years to perfect their innovation. “Fingers crossed our alternative sauvignon can make it into the main range,” Helen says. “It’s so different it challenges those who think they don’t like traditional sauvignon blanc.”