Cloudy Bay launches Sauvignon Blanc 2020

Created amidst the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, LVMH-owned Cloudy Bay announces the global launch of the 2020 vintage Sauvignon Blanc.

While the harvest season of New Zealand began in countrywide lockdown rules due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the wine industry was allowed to continue the operation under strict labour force guidelines.

Yang Shen, estate director of Cloudy Bay says, “While the conditions under which we worked were far from ideal, we feel so privileged to have been allowed to work and bring in this amazing vintage. We couldn’t have done it without the hard work and dedication of our team, who worked diligently and professionally despite the additional stress that the Coronavirus restrictions added. This vintage will always be memorable, because of what we went through to make it happen, but we believe it will also be memorable as one of Cloudy Bay’s best vintages.”

According to the winery, vintage 2020 is “one of the finest expressions of its winemaking expertise since its founding in 1985”. In this vintage, there were incredible growing conditions in the vineyards throughout the year, and the fruit that came into the winery was “as close to perfect as could be imagined”. Dry conditions prevailed again this year, meanwhile, the slightly cooler conditions compared to last year yielded a Sauvignon Blanc that shows a “remarkable balance and refined acidity, alongside the vibrant fruit qualities for which the winery is best known of”.

The new vintage carries a palate of zesty lime, lemongrass and juicy stone fruit characters, melding together by a subtle minerality. The vibrant concentrated fruit and freshness bestow poise and balance, and lead through to a long and impressive finish, making for a wine that will age gracefully for many years.

Jim White, the winery’s technical director, commented, “we may feel like we were put through the mill during harvest, but you would never know it from the wine in the bottle. The 2020 vintage release is everything a Cloudy Bay Sauvignon should be: concentrated and vibrant, with beautiful citrus and stone fruit characters, but also retaining that certain subtlety and poise that has built its renown around the globe.”