Koura Bay Estate Wines

Below is a list of our premium wines.

Here you will find wine notes, reviews, tasting & technical notes for each of our wines.


	Barney's Rock Riesling 2006 Grape growing: The vines were pruned to 2 canes, with vertical shoot positioning. Balanced pruning, shoot thinning, tucking and trimming ensured favourable canopy conditions. A long, cool ripening season resulted in fruit with intense varietal character and high natural acid levels. Harvest date: 22nd March, 2006 Winemaking: Most fruit was machine harvested in cool morning or evening conditions, and pressed with minimal skin contact. Portions of hand picked fruit were immediately whole bunch pressed to minimise phenolic pickup. Clear juice was fermented at very low temperature with selected yeast strains to retain the fruit’s varietal flavours. Alcohol: 11.5% Residual Sugar: 19.8g/L Acidity: 7.3g/L pH: 3.03 This wine is bottled using a screwcap to preserve freshness and purity of flavour. Winemaker: Sam Smail Reviews... Tasting & Technical notes...
	Blue Duck Pinot Noir 2004 Grape growing: The vines were trained on standard trellis with 2-cane pruning and vertical shoot positioning. The soil structure is free draining stony, silty loam. Spring was cool and dry, with the summer and autumn cool and mainly dry. This ensured a long and favourable growing season, clean fruit and intense varietal character. The fruit was harvested in small parcels from the Awatere Valley Vineyard of Geoff and Diane Smith from the 24th March until 15th April, 2004. Winemaking: The fruit was handpicked, destemmed and crushed into open vats. During the ferment, the vats were hand plunged three times daily to ensure maximum extraction of colour and flavour, with fermentation temperature peaking at 30-32°C. The wine was lightly pressed immediately after ferment, and racked to French oak barriques for 10 months ageing. During this period the wine was regularly stirred on light yeast lees, and full malolactic fermentation occurred. Before bottling, the wine was fined with egg whites to ensure a soft finish. Alcohol: 13.0% Residual Sugar: 2.6g/l Acidity: 5.7g/l pH: 3.69 Winemaker: Sam Smail. Reviews... Tasting & Technical notes...
	Blue Duck Pinot Noir 2005 Grape growing: The vines were trained on standard trellis with 2-cane pruning and vertical shoot positioning. The soil structure is free draining stony, silty loam. Spring was cool and dry, with the summer and autumn cool and mainly dry. This ensured a long and favourable growing season, clean fruit and intense varietal character. The fruit was harvested from the Awatere Valley Vineyard of Geoff and Diane Smith from 4th-27th April, 2005. Winemaking: The fruit was handpicked, destemmed and crushed into open vats. During the ferment, the vats were hand plunged up to three times daily to ensure maximum extraction of colour and flavour, with fermentation temperature peaking at 32 celsius. The wine was lightly pressed immediately after ferment, and racked to French oak barriques for 4 months ageing. During this period the wine was regularly stirred on light yeast lees, and full malolactic fermentation occurred. Before bottling, the wine was fined with egg whites to ensure a soft finish. Alcohol: 14.0% Residual Sugar: <2.0g/L Acidity: 5.5g/l pH: 3.61 Winemaker: Paul Gordon Reviews... Tasting & Technical notes...
	Blue Duck Pinot Noir 2006 Variety: 100% Pinot Noir Viticulture: Climate: A long, dry ripening season with clear days and cool nights Soils: Free draining stony, silty loamTraining:Standard trellis with cane pruning and vertical shoot positioning Harvest Dates: 17th March-13th April Winemaking: The fruit was handpicked, destemmed and crushed into open vats. The fruit was cold soaked for 3 days before fermentation. During the ferment, the vats were hand plunged three times daily to ensure maximum extraction of colour and flavour, with fermentation temperature peaking at 32 °C. The wine was lightly pressed immediately after ferment, and racked to French oak barriques, for 10 months ageing. During this period the wine was regularly stirred on light yeast lees, and full malolactic fermentation occurred. Before bottling, the wine was fined with egg whites to ensure a soft finish. Locality: Awatere Valley, Marlborough, NZ Specifications: Alcohol: 13.5% Residual sugar: <1g/LpH: 3.56 Titratable Acidity: 5.4g/L Reviews... Tasting & Technical notes...
	Blue Duck Pinot Noir 2007 Grape growing: The vines were trained on standard trellis with 2-cane pruning and vertical shoot positioning. The soil structure is free draining stony, silty loam. Spring was cool and dry, with the summer and autumn cool and mainly dry. This ensured a long and favourable growing season, clean fruit and intense varietal character. The fruit was harvested from the Awatere Valley Vineyard of Geoff and Diane Smith on the 20th March to the 19th April 2007. Winemaking: The fruit was handpicked, destemmed and crushed into open vats. During the ferment, the vats were hand plunged three times daily to ensure maximum extraction of colour and flavour, with fermentation temperature peaking at 32C. The wine was lightly pressed immediately after ferment, and racked to French oak barriques for 10 months ageing. During this period the wine was regularly stirred on light yeast lees, and full malolactic fermentation occurred. To ensure a pure expression of terroir no fining or filtration was performed. Alcohol: 13.0% Residual Sugar: 2g/l pH: 3.55 Winemakers: Paul Gordon. Reviews... Tasting & Technical notes...
	Sauvignon Blanc 2008 Winemaking: The fruit was machine harvested in cool morning conditions and pressed with minimal skin contact. The clear juice was fermented at very low temperatures with selected yeast strains to retain the fruits inherent flavours. The wine was aged and stirred on yeast lees for 1-2 months to aide mouthfeel and texture. Bottling Analyses: Alcohol: 12.5% Residual Sugar: 4.2 g/L Acidity: 6.7 g/L pH: 3.33 This wine is bottled using a screwcap to preserve freshness and purity of flavour. Winemaker: Sam Smail Reviews... Tasting & Technical notes...
	Shark's Tooth Pinot Gris 2007 Grape growing: The vines were pruned to two canes, with vertical shoot positioning. A long, dry ripening period followed a temperate spring. This ensured clean fruit with intense varietal character. Winemaking: The fruit was both hand picked or machine picked in the cool early morning conditions. This juice was fermented in stainless steel at cool temperatures and using a selected yeast strain to promote the aromatic flavours that the Awatere Valley has become famous for. Alcohol: 13% Residual Sugar: 6.4g/L Acidity: 5.3g/L pH: 3.41 Winemaker: Sam Smail and Simon Waghorn Reviews... Tasting & Technical notes...
	Sharktooth PinotGris 2008 Grape growing: The vines were pruned to two canes, with vertical shoot positioning. A long, dry ripening period followed a temperate spring. This ensured clean fruit with intense varietal character. Winemaking: The fruit was both hand picked or machine picked in the cool early morning conditions. This juice was fermented in stainless steel at cool temperatures and using a selected yeast strain to promote the aromatic flavours that the Awatere Valley has become famous for. Alcohol: 12.5% Residual Sugar: 6.4g/L Acidity: 5.3g/L pH: 3.41 Winemaker: Sam Smail and Simon Waghorn Reviews... Tasting & Technical notes...

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