Do we ship to you?.
More wines available from Cloudy Bay
Pre-Arrival
Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2019
750ml - 1 Bottle
Bottle:
$37.60
Vibrant and expressive, with bold Key lime, passion fruit and tangerine flavors that are succulent and show off...
750ml
Bottle:
$28.04
$30.36
Stands out for its intensity, with ruby grapefruit, yuzu and lemon essential oil details, plus notes of...
750ml
Bottle:
$28.87
$30.95
Leaps out of the glass with effusiveness, featuring flavors of apple blossom, Key lime, Honeycrisp, lemon thyme and...
More Details
Winery
Cloudy Bay
Vintage: 2012
2012 has, so far been a positive year for wineries around the world. While it may be a little too early to speak of the wines being made in the northern hemisphere, European and North American wineries have already begun reporting that their harvesting season has been generally very good, and are predicting to continue with the kind of successes they saw in 2011. However, 2012 has been something of a late year for France, due to unpredictable weather throughout the summer, and the grapes were ripening considerably later than they did in 2011 (which was, admittedly, an exceptionally early year). French wineries are claiming, though, that this could well turn out to be advantageous, as the slow ripening will allow the resulting wines to express more flavour and features of the terroir they are grown in.
The southern hemisphere has seen ideal climatic conditions in most of the key wine producing countries, and Australia and New Zealand particularly had a superb year, in particular with the Bordeaux varietal grapes that grow there and which love the humidity these countries received plenty of. Also enjoying a fantastic year for weather were wineries across Argentina and Chile, with the Mendoza region claiming that 2012 will be one of their best vintages of the past decade. Similar claims are being made across the Chilean wine regions, where Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon had an especially good year. These two grape varietals also produced characterful wines on the coastal regions of South Africa this year.
Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc
One of the most commonly planted and cultivated white wine grape varietals in the world is the Sauvignon Blanc. This green skinned grape originated in southern France, where it is still grown today and produced into exceptionally high quality wines. However, it is also very much a varietal of the New World, and can be found almost anywhere with the correct climatic conditions for it to thrive in. Generally, Sauvignon Blanc grapes prefer cooler climates, and benefit best from an early harvest. Too much exposure to heat causes the juices inside the fruit to lose much of their character, and results in flat, uninteresting wines devoid of the grapes' usual bite and crispiness. In many countries, Sauvignon Blanc grape juices are aged in barrels, and are allowed to undergo malolactic fermentation, which transforms this dry and refreshing, zesty and fruity white wine into something far mellower, more buttery and refined.
Region: Marlborough
On the north-easterly tip of New Zealand's South Island, we find the beautiful region of Marlborough, home to some of the New World's finest white wines and dozens of quality vineyards. The region itself has been producing their award winning white wines – most commonly made with Sauvignon Blanc grapes – in large numbers since the 1970s, and is today widely recognized as being home to some of the best examples of both modern and traditional styles of Sauvignon Blanc wines. The region benefits from its dry and hot climate, and the cooling oceanic breezes which help the grapes there reach full ripeness. One of the key features of the Marlborough region is the fact that whilst the days are generally very hot, the nights are cold, thus allowing the vintners who work in the region to considerably extend the grapes' ripening period and encourage much more expression of flavor and terroir.
Country: New Zealand
When it comes to New World wines, few countries can compete with Europe quite as well as New Zealand, where modern techniques and technologies are allowing wineries to get the very best results from the wide range of imported grape varieties which flourish there. The warm, sunny climate coupled with brisk oceanic winds and remarkably fertile volcanic soils produce grapes of exceptional quality, and New Zealand wines are notable for their ability to carry the terroir they are grown on into the bottle. Whilst the Sauvignon Blanc wines are probably the most widely exported and popular to come out of new Zealand, fantastic results have been produced from the Bordeaux style wines made in the Auckland region, and the Pinot Noir wines of Central Otago. These Pinot Noir wines are far more fleshy than their Burgundy counterparts, and are probably best enjoyed when young, and bursting with the fruit flavors they carry so well.