Pale gold in appearance, Cloudy Bay Late Harvest Riesling delights the senses with aromas of honey, nougat, orange blossom and ripe peach. The palate is enlivened by flavours of fig and apricot with notes of honeycomb, culminating in a long, rich finish.

Wine maker notes

The fruit was hand picked very late according to flavour profile on the 17th and 31st of May. During each pick two passes through the vineyard were carried out to separate the botrytised bunches. All except a small portion of the grapes were botrytised. The non botrytised grapes allowed us to harness the fresh natural acidity of Riesling resulting in an average of 37° brix at picking In order to extract the full flavour and richness of these grapes, a very long, overnight press cycle was used. After pressing, each batch was fermented slowly over two months in small stainless steel tanks until achieving the desired balance of sugar and acidity. It was then racked to old French oak barrels for an eight-month maturation on yeast lees prior to being bottled in February 2008. The final wine has an alcohol of 10.5%v/v, titratable acidity of 8.73g/l, pH of 3.25 and a residual sugar of 133 g/l.

Producer

Cloudy Bay was founded in 1985 as one of the first five wineries in Marlborough, NZ. Synonymous with the world’s finest Sauvignon Blanc, Cloudy Bay has a reputation for winemaking excellence and has paved the way for the success of New Zealand wines. The ultra-premium wines express the purity and intensity of fruit flavors naturally afforded by the top vineyard sites and maritime climate.