Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2024

Reviews for the Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2024

James Suckling (JamesSuckling.com): 92/100. Consistently delicious with sliced-apple, gooseberry and lime character. Some grass too. Medium body, creamy texture and a fresh finish. Fortieth vintage of this wine. Drink now.

Michael Cooper: 25 Not-to-be-missed New Zealand Wines. On sale around the world, New Zealand’s most internationally acclaimed wine is produced in greater volumes than the total output of many of this country’s middle-sized wineries. Cloudy Bay, established in Marlborough in 1985, is now part of the Louis Vuitton Moët-Hennessy luxury goods empire. A refined, weighty wine with deep, ripely herbaceous flavours, it’s a more subtle and sophisticated, less aggressive style than most of its competitors, showing impressive complexity, texture and length. For downright drinkability, it’s hard to beat.

Tasting note

The 2024 Sauvignon Blanc is quite restrained on the nose and less tropical than previous vintages. It unfurls in the glass to reveal profound and attractive notes of citrus, lime leaf, apricot and orange blossom. The palate shows mouthwatering intensity, with subtle-but-juicy passionfruit notes melding with those of citrus, white stone fruit, makrut lime, pink peppercorn, hibiscus and pink grapefruit. Throughout, there is a freshening saline edge and a fresh-squeezed lemon acidity that carries a long, concentrated and complex finish.

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Type: White wine

Varial: Sauvignon Blanc

Food match: Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2024 is a natural match for almost any seafood. Some of our favourites at the winery include tempura oysters, locally-caught sashimi, and steamed mussels with garlic, citrus and parsley. It’s also a great match for green salads and goats’ cheese. A hint from us: if it goes with lemon, it goes with Sauvignon Blanc.

Alcohol: 13.5% vol

Total acidity: 6.7 g/l

Residual sugar: 1.29 g/l

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulphites

Vineyard: Marlborough, New Zealand. Cloudy Bay's Sauvignon Blanc fruit comes largely from vineyards planted on the Wairau Valley floor, where the climate and free-draining gravelly soils are perfect for Sauvignon Blanc. This includes the Estate, Motukawa, Widow’s Block, Red Shed, and Mustang vineyards.

Growing season:  The growing season began cold and unsettled, with some sharp frosts over the flowering period. This resulted in a lower-than-average crop as summer arrived, and arrive it did. In Marlborough, the Cloudy Bay team experienced their driest 10 months since records began, with drought being declared in mid-March. The low soil moisture levels meant that the vines were almost entirely dependent on regular irrigation applications to sustain them through the summer. It was also beautifully sunny, and certainly a blessing from a disease-control point of view. The lack of rainfall reduced the yield still further than the spring frosts, and the warm weather led to an early harvest. Fortunately, cooler nights from late February onwards, ensured that ripening slowed and acid balance was retained. With the fruit in pristine condition, this ideal climate gave Cloudy Bay the time to slow down the decision making as they approached harvest. Each of the blocks was able to reach its full potential before picking.

Winemaking: Following the harvest, the free-run juice was cold settled, before racking and inoculation with selected yeast. Fermentation was carried out primarily in stainless steel tanks, with around 1.5% of the blend fermented at warmer temperatures in large format oak vats. A portion was also fermented using wild yeast to build texture and complexity. As usual, the Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc was blended stringently to include only the best; in 2024 the team tasted 81 different portions, of which 55 were selected to create the final blend.

Cellar potential: 2026+

Closure: Screw cap

Produced and bottled by: Cloudy Bay Vineyards Limited, P.O. Box 376, 230 Jacksons Rd, Blenheim 7240, New Zealand

Distributor: Moët Hennessy Deutschland GmbH, Seidlstrasse 29, 80335 Munich, Germany

Ingredients: Grape, antioxidant: ascorbic acid, preservatives: sulphites

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