Saint Clair has vineyards in five different districts in Marlborough: Doctor's Creek Vineyard, Awatere Valley Vineyard, Rapaura Vineyard, Omaka Vineyard, and Ben Morven. The winery also sells grapes to other local wineries, but only those they deem unsatisfactory. The vineyards together cover hundreds of hectares. Wines are now being made there that are gaining international recognition. The wines have consistently received gold medals. Saint Clair, for example, received a gold medal nine years in a row for its Wairau Reserve Sauvignon Blanc.
This Saint Clair wine is multidimensional and complex. For this wine, they experimented with a northeast-southwest orientation of the vines, rather than the traditional north-south orientation. This resulted in some grapes receiving less sunlight, while others received much more. Due to the cooler temperatures on one side, the grapes ripen much more slowly. The resulting wine has a slightly greenish character, while others have a tropical touch. A delightful combination that Saint Clair has managed to achieve in this bottle.
The grapes are pressed as quickly as possible to minimize skin contact and juice deterioration after harvesting. After settling, the juice was fermented with select yeast in 100% stainless steel at cool temperatures to preserve the fruit flavor and freshness. The aroma offers a fresh burst of apple and citrus, along with hints of gooseberry and lime. The palate is exceptionally pure and rich, wonderfully refreshing with abundant fruit notes of apple, melon, gooseberry, and passion fruit.
