Introducing — The August 1888
For some time the Giesen Brothers (Theo, Alex and Marcel) and the winemaking team have wanted to push the boundaries for Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Their aim was to dispel the myth that the region’s sauvignon blanc was a one trick pony, they wanted to show sauvignon blanc could make complex, multi-dimensional wines. During the 2008 vintage Giesen winemakers conducted some experiments in the winery, treating different parcels of fruit with different yeasts and oak regimes. In 2009 they began the work in the vineyard and it was from this starting point that the inaugural vintage of The August was born. In recognition of passion for fine wine, the Giesen brothers named this wine after their grandfather August (pronounced ow-goost), a restaurateur and sommelier.
The Wine
While retaining a base of varietal sauvignon blanc character, this blend is a richer expression. Concentrated aroma and complexity is derived from a combination of low yielding vines, barrel fermentation with wild yeast and extended maturation on lees. The palate has a purity of flavour and structure achieved by whole bunch pressing which enhances the flavour profile and retains a lovely acidity. To this, extra textural and secondary flavour and length are added by extended time on yeast lees and the use of seasoned French oak barrels.
Viticulture
All vines in the selected areas were pruned to two canes then shoot thinned to remove double shoots, downward growing shoots and to clear dense areas. After flowering and fruit set the vines were thinned to a maximum of two bunches per shoot. The vines were hand leaf plucked to improve fruit exposure and promote even ripening. Near veraison greener bunches were dropped by hand to even up maturity. Pre-harvest a quality control thin was conducted to remove damaged or botrytis infected bunches.
Vineyards
Seven areas in Giesen’s Marlborough vineyards were chosen for their diverse terroir; Dillon’s Point, Rapaura, and Fairhall. Dillon’s Point soils range from sandy to heavy clay loam with good water holding capacity producing moderate to high density canopies. The Rapaura vineyard has free draining silt loam soils with light canopy and the Fairhall vineyard is also free draining but with river gravels over a clay base which produces moderately dense canopies
Harvest
The maturing fruit was regularly tasted to monitor acid degradation and flavour profile to select the optimum harvest day. The first block was picked on 8 April 2009 with the last on 21 April 2009. The fruit was hand harvested into small picking crates which were put in a coolstore overnight to chill the fruit before processing. Tonnage per hectare ranged from 4.2 to 9.1 T/ha.
Wild Yeast Starter
Three days prior to harvesting each block, we picked a bucket of grapes and crushed them to make a wild yeast starter, which was left in the warmth of the pump shed to get the temperature up. This bucket of juice, skins and stems started fermenting within a day or two,at which stage we added more freshly crushed grapes. When the vineyard was harvested these yeast starters were brought into the winery, drained off and addedto the juice from each block. The idea was to ferment the juice using the yeast that was on the grapes and therefore indigenous to each vineyard.
Processing, Fermentation & Maturation
The whole bunches were pressed without de-stemming and crushing. The pressure was gradually increased with minimal rotating and macerating and the juice was run off to tanks before the barrels were gravity filled. A selection of oak was used including one new barrel and used barrels including some which were five-years-old and previously used for chardonnay. Once the juice temperature was around 16°C the wild starter was introduced and the ferment was underway. From there the winemaking team were ‘hands off’ with no nutrient additions or temperature control. The low yeast population in wild ferment resulted in a relatively controlled ferment that didn’t get too vigorous – apart from some spectacular foaming and unusual ferment aromas. The ferments mostly went to dryness with some petering out at around 5 grams/litre residual sugar. It was decided not to allow malolactic fermentation so sulphur was added to the barrels about two weeks after the end of ferment. The wine rested on yeast lees for five months until blending in early October 2009.
