History

Cloudy Bay produced its first vintage in 1985 with grapes sourced from Marlborough growers. Cloudy Bay started planting its own vineyards in Marlborough that season.

Isabel Estate planted in 1986 as a contract grower for Cloudy Bay. The first vintage under the Isabel Estate label was 1997, as far as I can establish.

Grape Source

Grapes were sourced from seven estate and grower vineyards located in the Rapaura, Fairhall and Brancott sub-regions of the Wairau Valley. All fruit was grown on the divided Scott Henry trellis system with the exception of a small percentage of young vines. Clones are not mentioned.

The grapes were harvested from the Isabel Estate Vineyard, Block 5, Rows 265 - 431, where sauvignon blancs of the clones UCD.1 & 2,BDX 316 & 317, 5385 grow.

Harvest

Harvest commenced on 28 March and concluded on 8th April 2001.

A close eye was kept on leaf cover this season to avoid sunburn. Each vineyard was picked at optimum flavour, under ideal conditions with no disease or rain pressure. The warm dry season meant many blocks were harvested earlier than normal to retain the vibrant fruit flavours, which are so important for this variety.

The fruit was machine harvest during the cooler night and early morning temperatures and transported directly to the winery. The grapes were de-stemmed and transferred straight to tank presses. Free run and lightly pressed juice was cold settled for 48 hours then racked and inoculated with a neutral yeast strain. The fermentations were predominantly carried out in stainless steel tanks.

After fermentation the wine remained in contact with yeast lees for about two months prior to blending in August and subsequent bottling in September.

Grapes were harvested between 30th March until 25th April.

The 2001 vintage was compressed with a shorter "picking window" than in previous years. Therefore close attention was paid to blocks as they ripened in order to harvest them in optimum condition. As usual we started with hand picking the early maturing blocks to retain the freshness this fruit has to offer.

The mid season fruit was machine harvested in the early morning to retain the "sauvage character". This component was cool tank fermented to show pure varietal character and silky texture without forsaking the "Sauvignon spine".

As usual we allowed the last vineyard component extra hang time to gain richness and complexity and this was fermented with wild yeast and given judicious secondary malolactic fermentation and lees ageing.

Bottling

The wine was bottled in early September for release on October 1.

The wine was bottled on 24th August 2001.

Wine Analysis

Wine Analysis

• 13.5% alcohol by volume,
• pH 3.09
• 7.4 g/l titratable acidity.

Wine Analysis

• 13.4 % alcohol
• 7.0 g/l titratable acidity
• 2.9 g/l residual sugar
• 29 g/l Dry Extract

Winemaker's notes

"Imagine a salsa of tomato, quince and passionfruit, freshly chopped basil leaves and a sprinkling of lemongrass. Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2001 is vibrantly fresh and has all the hallmarks of a classic Marlborough sauvignon blanc…. a tangy, concentrated, mouthfilling wine."

"This wine exhibits a profusion of flavours from intense gooseberry and passionfruit through to rich, ripe tropical exotic fruits such as mango, lychee and pineapple. Exquisitely soft in texture, the wine is finely balanced with juicy fruit flavours, smoky mineral characters and good acidity. In short, gratifying mouth feel and length, a classic ripe year."

My notes

Tasted September 2001
Pale straw with a green tinge, it has a smoky (fumé as in freshly cut grass) aroma and a rich full-bodied palate with classic Marlborough flavours of gooseberry, grass and lemon with underlying passionfruit and hints of musk that linger on the smoky grassy finish.

Tasted in February 2002
A full-bodied sauvignon blanc that from this bottle seems a little flat at first but fills out well on the palate with a long green apple and zesty gooseberry finish, intense length with good flavour and lingering 'sweet pea' characters.

The February note was for a blind tasting. Three out of five tasters, including myself, rated it as gold medal standard. A second bottle was opened after the tasting and the flatness on the front of the palate was not there. I believe this was the merest touch of corkiness that was overpowered by the richness of the wine.

Tasted May 2002
Lime and gooseberry aromas. Quite soft in the mouth with sweaty herbs, lemon oil, gooseberry, banana passionfruit, apple, sweet pea, citrus and a hint of tobacco on the hot fumé cut-grass finish. A very good sauvignon blanc with plenty of varietal flavour that waxes and wanes in layers. A very powerful wine with flavours that seem to linger forever in the mouth.

Three days later.
Pungent herbal aromas. Toasty lemon and lime over gooseberry with a hint of passionfruit and a touch of peach. It's a full-bodied, grassy, peach influenced mealy style now with a malolactic creaminess. This is softer than many of the other SB's I've tasted and after 3 days, there seems to be a subtle oaky complexity with what I call a 'bubble gum' character . (But the wine has not seen oak, according to the notes). A very appealing and drinkable style of sauvignon blanc.

Use of oak

Cloudy Bay has fermented small parcels of sauvignon blanc in oak in previous vintages - although in proportions insignificant in context to the total blend, however no oak was used in the 2001 vintage.

The use of oak in the 2001 vintage is not mentioned. Small percentages of oak has been used in Isabel Estate Sauvignon Blanc in the past according to the former winemaker.

Track Record

Cloudy Bay has an amazing ability to age. I have tasted sauvignon blanc from Cloudy Bay that is 15 years old and the wines are amazingly drinkable. I put it down to the semillon content in the early wines. Now the semillon component is negligible.

I have not tasted any cellar-aged wines from Isabel Estate. It is a softer wine at the outset but being so drinkable several days after opening, hints to me that this 2001 wine indeed has cellaring potential.