To mark our 20th vintage we are releasing Moana Blanc and Moana Rosé, a pair of sparkling wines that reflect unique terroir, thoughtful winemaking and an ever patient resolve.
Winemaker Clive Dougall says their seven-year journey from vine to glass is typical of Seresin’s approach to both vineyards and vintages. “Time enriches our land and our wine, and we’ve no intention of speeding things up. It’s a simple ethos that invites greater complexity in our soil and in our cellar.”
Seresin made Marlborough’s first BioGro certified organic wines in 2006, with a desire to care for the land and make wines that span the new and old worlds. Twenty years on, we have developed Demeter certified biodynamic hand-tended vineyards, each with its own signature of climate, soil and native yeasts. It’s a journey worth celebrating, which is why we have saved the release of Seresin Moana Blanc and Moana Rosé until now.
Their fruit was handpicked in 2009, a beautifully long season that Clive describes as “nature’s reward”, then whole-bunch pressed, wild fermented in old French oak puncheons, and laid to rest for six months. Each wine was assembled and bottled for secondary fermentation, then left to age on lees for three and a half years.
The wines were disgorged in late 2013, with no dosage added, ensuring an autolytic, bone dry and unadulterated character. They were then allowed another three years to rest and develop in the bottle, quietly transforming into the perfect celebratory wines, says Clive. “In a world of pace we’ve a simple message – slow down and savour these.”
Vintage 2016 was born of another lingering season, with a cold snapping start and intense long-summer finish. Clive sees great potential in the resulting wines, which carry the influence of their year. “The bunches for our dearest Pinot Noir were bigger than we've ever seen before, very much a reality of the exceptional season. We are expecting this will result in slightly more finesse in the wines, with less overt tannin structure.”
The olive harvest followed hard on the heels of vintage, with a large crop that yielded intense flavours and a vibrant lime green hue in the bottle.
Meanwhile, Seresin’s vegetable gardens, fruit trees, guinea fowl, cattle, hens and honey bees continue to thrive, says Clive. “They’re all part of the biodiversity we have nurtured over the past 20 years, working to give back to the land more than we take. And it rewards us every day, especially with wines like these.”
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Seresin Moana Blanc 2009 and Seresin Moana Rosé 2009, RRP NZD$45 are exclusively limited release and distributed by Mineral in New Zealand. www.mineral.co.nz. For further information please contact Sarah Linklater, Marketing Manager +64 21 704 733 sarahl@seresin.co.nz www.seresin.co.nz