Blank Canvas McKee Vineyard Marlborough Grüner Veltliner 2017

Blank Canvas McKee Vineyard Marlborough Grüner Veltliner 2017Dry style French oak Orange & pepper Full bodied "Drinking superbly, the 2017 vintage (5*) is a single vineyard wine, grown at Blind River. Hand picked, it was fermented and matured on its yeast lees for 11 months in tanks and seasoned French oak puncheons. Full of personality, it is a bright yellow green, invitingly aromatic wine, with deep, vigorous, peachy, slightly toasty flavours, bottleaged complexity, good acid spine and a long, dry finish.

• Dry style
• French oak
• Orange & pepper
• Full bodied

"Drinking superbly, the 2017 vintage (5*) is a single-vineyard wine, grown at Blind River. Hand-picked, it was fermented and matured on its yeast lees for 11 months in tanks and seasoned French oak puncheons. Full of personality, it is a bright yellow/green, invitingly aromatic wine, with deep, vigorous, peachy, slightly toasty flavours, bottleaged complexity, good acid spine and a long, dry finish. Ready; no rush" Michael Cooper, The Listener, Oct 2020

"Fleshy, full-bodied wine with classic citrus/mandarin, orange blossom and subtle spicy flavours supported by a backbone of gentle acidity that leads to a mellow finish" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Sep 2022

"Varietal with a gentle herbaceous quality transitioning into ripe white fleshed fruits of apple and lemon, a touch of pineapple then a light white vegetable quality. Crisp, taut, fruity, refreshing and dry with complexity from bottle development and a whisper of toastiness, there is plenty to admire, but this wine is also young with acidity and energy as well. As the wine becomes more ambient the flavours and textures grow and develop. A thoroughly interesting example, balanced and well made. Best drinking from today and through 2029" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Oct 2022

"The nose shows just the bit of age with lovely aromas of baked pears, wet stone, beeswax and dried herbs. Medium- odied with mineral notes playing against the slowly maturing fruit. Silky texture. Fresh acidity keeps things lively. Nicely done. Sustainable. Drink or hold. Screw cap" James Suckling, Oct 2022

Full-bodied richness, brilliant orange citrus, white pepper aromatics and a savoury, textural palate exemplify this single-vineyard Marlborough Gruner Veltliner. With the variety originally hailing from Austria, we feel our rendition takes on the best of European structure and New Zealand fruit opulence. 

2017 was unprecedented in Marlborough, being hit by not one but two tropical cyclones during the peak of harvest. Cyclone Debbie lashed her fury on the region on the 2nd April while the second cyclone, Cook, hit on 13th April. Storm aside the weather leading up to harvest was very favourable. This vintage demonstrated why GV is like the Buck Shelford of varieties - the hard man of the grape world. It is essentially bullet-proof with its thick skins that are almost impenetrable. Our GV hung out on the vine until 20th April 2017 when the weather played ball again and was at ideal physiological ripeness with the flavour spectrum we seek for in this style. 

The McKee Vineyard is located in the coastal Blind River subregion of Marlborough. Soils are comprised of complex silty loams and gravels while the average vine age is 7 years. Proximity to the sea contributed a mineral saline quality to the fruit while the cool coastal microclimate ensures vibrant and focused acidity. We green thinned the crop in early February to ensure the fruit was even and vines were in balance with a yield target of 7 tonnes/hectare. The vineyard is VSP trained and cane pruned.

We hand-harvested the McKee Vineyard GV on the 20th April 2017. At the winery the grapes were de-stemmed, crushed and gently pressed with a press-cut at 600 L/tonne. This wine is 100% free-run juice only and it was run into large French oak puncheons (~20% new) with the smaller balance to a single stainless steel tank for fermentation. A select yeast strain was used for fermentation which was completed over 12 days and the wine then underwent elevage on lees. It was bottled on the 8th March 2018 and cellared in bottle for a further 4.5 years prior ro release.