I had the fortune of meeting the winemaker for William Thomas Wines yesterday and mightily impressed I was too. The wines have always interested me but it is not until someone can tell the real story about them that they begin to make sense.
The vineyard is well on the way to becoming 'organic', well actually they have decided to go the whole hog and become BioGrow Certified. Having made this costly decision you begin to appreciate the wine more. Rather than it being purely commercial they have embarked on one of the hardest, but most rewarding, ventures in viticulture.
The Sauvignon Blanc from the 2008 vintage, which was a very difficult year, is impressive. All of the fruit for this wine was hand picked, which must be a new direction for Marlborough.
There is good minerality and structure to this wine. It, must be said, is atypical Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. It doesn't make you run to the cupboard for Gaviscon but leaves you wanting more of the zesty lemon peel and slightly tropical flavours. WVR 90 Points
The Pinot Gris was delightful with good palate weight and texture being the key to this wine. It didn't jump out of the glass aromatically but was floral to be correct. The wine was dry and very easy to drink without to much complexity. WVR 86 points
The Chardonnay was supposed to be made just for the winemaker but she made a tad too much ad therefore we were able to taste it. Although made in small quantities it was very well made. There was good citrus characters on mealiness on the nose and that went through to the palate. The texture was from 100% Malolactic fermentation and only a small percentage of new oak used. The wine was in balance until the very end which was a little too hot for me but would have tightened up had the wine been chilled. WVR 85 points
The Pinot Noir was the highlight for me. The colour was light ruby and didn't look too over extracted and I could clearly see my hand through the glass (always a good sign for Pinot Noir).
On the nose it was slightly edgy but in a good way and the fruit came through with a small amount of savoury. Once in the mouth the wine danced its' own tune. The fruit was bright at the front and then very well structured on the mid palate and carried through those savoury notes on in the end palate. This wine is a good example of what can be done in Marlborough and good on them for going through with BioGrow in these tough economic times.
WVR 89 points.
No comments:
Post a Comment