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Airline pilots make surprisingly good wine. Their appreciation of the sciences, a respect for the weather and a bird's eye view of the land, all invaluable to the winemaker's art. John Ellis would take every opportune weekend away from his regular New York Paris route, to pursue a passion for viticulture. He planted the first commercial Cabernet Merlot vines in the Hamptons and found time between trans atlantic flights to work vintages amongst the Grand Cru vineyards of La Bourgogne. Ellis ultimately made the great lifelong sea change in favour of our land downunder. He settled on a farmstead outside Leongatha, amongst the slow ripening pastures of Gippsland and established a vineyard called Bellvale. It is now a place of fully mature vines and old world Burgundian techniques, sur lie et sauvage, barrel ferments and batonnage. Bellvale remains artisanally small batch, just 23 hectares of vine yields a measured harvest of spectacular quality Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, la saveur de la France from the top pick of Gippsland.. Placing pinot amongst the pastures»

Dog Point Chardonnay CONFIRM VINTAGE

Chardonnay Marlborough - Wairau New Zealand
Dog Point combines the considerable experiences of Ivan and Margaret Sutherland with James and Wendy Healy, fully focused on crafting distinctive and expressive new world wines. The Grand Cru of Marlborough Chardonnay, seamlessly melded with layers of gunflint, toasty oak and nutty detail, infused with luxurious oxidative complexities. More in the style of a good Chablis than anything Marlborough, generous, delicious, powerful yet refined.
Available in cartons of six
Case of 6
$245.50
From some of the oldest plantings in Marlborough. These well established vines, situated on free draining silty clay loams, are vinified alongside fruit from closely planted hillside vines with a clay loam influence. The majority of the crop is hand picked and loaded directly into presses. Juices are inoculated with pure and indigenous yeast strains, all batches are fermented in French oak barrels, a proportion of which were new, most of the wine completes malolactic. Components are assembled after eighteen months maturation, the assembled wine is treated to a further term on yeast lees, followed by a light fining for clarification before the final bottling.
Straw gold hues. Ripe citrus aromas, minerality, hints of roasted nuts and toast, savouryness from extended contact on yeast lees. Seamlessly integrated oak leads into a wonderfully balanced, richly full bodied palate of ripe citrus flavours, nuts and fig over a chalky textural yeast complexity, a stylish wine with balance and length. The textural palate resolves on a slaty, mineral edge.
Dog Point
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Dog Point
The name Dog Point dates from the earliest European settlement of Marlborough and the introduction of sheep to the district

These were days of few fences, of boundary riders and boundary keeping dogs. Shepherd's dogs sometimes became lost or wandered off and eventually bred into a marauding pack which attacked local flocks. These delinquent canines would retreat to a tussock and scrub covered hill which they inhabited, overlooking the Wairau Plains, designated by the early settlers as Dog Point.

Dog Point

The Dog Point region is home to one of New Zealands cultural and ecological treasures, 'ti kouka', commonly known as the cabbage tree. This attractive, distinctive, hardy native New Zealand plant is an aesthetic feature of the Dog Point landscape. Its remarkable natural qualities and strong signature of geographical identity have a synergy with the wines of Dog Point, which are a natural expression of the land from which they are created.

Marlborough's Wairau Valley is the major grape growing region of New Zealand, a confined geographical area at the northern tip of the South Island. Abundant sunshine, low rainfall and cool autumn nights characterise our long growing season, enabling the slow evolution of a rich array of vibrant fruit flavours.

Fruit for the Dog Point wines is sourced from selected vineyard plantings dating back to the late 1970's. These older well-established vines situated on free draining silty clay loams are supplemented with fruit from closely planted hillside vines with a clay loam influence.

Dog Point

Dog Point Vineyard combines the considerable wine-growing experience of Ivan and Margaret Sutherland and James and Wendy Healy. The philosophy at Dog Point involves nothing less tham total involvement by the partners, from the vineyard and nurture of the fruit, through the entire winemaking process, and eventually to marketing the regionally distinctive expressive Dog Point wines.

The estate's premium Cuvée Section 94 is made from Sauvignon Blanc grown to a specific area of the vineyard. The title Section 94 dates back to an early survey of Marlborough, and in particular the subdivision of the vast Hawkesbury Run which at that time encompassed an area of 6878 acres, 7 roods and 5 perches. Wine from this vineyard shows distinctive yellow fruit influence, which together with extended lees contact in older oak barrels produces a wine with considerable texture and flavour. Section 94 is Sauvignon Blanc with a difference.

James Healey and Ivan Sutherland did not leap head first into Dog Point Vineyards and they did not try and expand too quickly at their winery which is best described, Sutherland says, as the bare bones of a building with the best equipment money can buy. In their previous incarnations as winemaker (Healey) and viticulturist (Sutherland) at Cloudy Bay Wines, they learned exactly what money could buy so they figured out what they needed.

They had also secured markets before they began bottling, relying on contacts made over the years in Australia, Britain and the United States. One of the keys to the success of Dog Point Vineyards lies in the vineyard itself, they employ 14 fulltime workers to attend to the pampering needed by their close-planted, low-cropped vines. And though they are producing only 8000 cases a year, they own 80ha of vines and keep up with maintenance costs by selling a substantial proportion of grapes to Cloudy Bay Wines.

Dog Point