Sea Pearl Sauvignon Blanc 2019
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Wilfred
Wong
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Winemaker Notes
Pale straw with green hues. A lifted nose showing refreshing herbal notes, snow pea, melon, and fresh guava. Light-bodied and refreshing with typical Marlborough flavors of passion fruit, gooseberry, and grapefruit. A pleasing herbaceous thread leads to a long, lingering finish.
Enjoy with seafood, chicken served over grilled vegetables/salad or simply on its own.
Vegan
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2019 Sea Pearl Sauvignon Blanc is a delicious and satisfying wine. TASTING NOTES: This wine shows lovely grapefruit peel aromas and flavors. Enjoy its easy-drinking personality with longneck clam sashimi. (Tasted: June 6, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
Other Vintages
2020-
Wilfred
Wong
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Wilfred
Wong
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Tasting
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Around the cool, shallow waters of New Zealand live the most unique and beautiful species of abalone (Paua). These native creatures have been revered by ancient cultures and in modern times alike for their brilliant iridescent shells, considered to have the widest color spectrum of any abalone in the world. They can produce a stunning pearl, which is a true rarity and treasure of New Zealand.
Their Sauvignon Blanc was crafted from vineyards across Marlborough’s sub-regions of Awatere Valley. The fruit was carefully monitored throughout maturity and was harvested upon reaching optimum flavor development and ripeness. Transported to the winery immediately and pressed off with minimal skin contact, the resulting juice was cool fermented in stainless steel to retain freshness and aromatics. The resulting Sea Pearl Sauvignon Blanc is full of fresh aromas and classic Marlborough flavors of citrus, gooseberries and flinty mineral notes typical of Awatere Valley.
Capable of a vast array of styles, Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, refreshing variety that equally reflects both terroir and varietal character. Though it can vary depending on where it is grown, a couple of commonalities always exist—namely, zesty acidity and intense aromatics. This variety is of French provenance. Somm Secret—Along with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. That green bell pepper aroma that all three varieties share is no coincidence—it comes from a high concentration of pyrazines (herbaceous aromatic compounds) inherent to each member of the family.
An icon and leading region of New Zealand's distinctive style of Sauvignon blanc, Marlborough has a unique terroir, making it ideal for high quality grape production (of many varieties). Despite some common generalizations, which could be fairly justified given that Marlborough is responsible for 90% of New Zealand's Sauvignon blanc production, the wines from this region are actually anything but homogenous. At the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, the vineyards of Marlborough benefit from well-draining, stony soils, a dry, sunny climate and wide temperature fluctuations between day and night, a phenomenon that supports a perfect balance between berry ripeness and acidity.
The region’s king variety, Sauvignon blanc, is beloved for its pungent, aromatic character with notes of exotic tropical fruit, freshly cut grass and green bell pepper along with a refreshing streak of stony minerality. These wines are made in a wide range of styles, and winemakers take advantage of various clones, vineyard sites, fermentation styles, lees-stirring and aging regimens to differentiate their bottlings, one from one another.
Also produced successfully here are fruit-forward Pinot noirs (especially where soils are clay-rich), elegant Riesling, Pinot gris and Gewürztraminer.