Bernardus Sauvignon Blanc

Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Late Harvest

This is our fourth bottling of this superb dessert wine modeled after the great sweet wines of Sauternes, France. Each year Michael Griva leaves a corner of his Sauvignon Blanc vineyard unpicked and allows the development of a special type of Botrytis known as “noble rot”. Under the right conditions this unique fungus grows within the grape piercing tiny holes in the skins which permits the juice to concentrate in sugar and flavor. We monitor the vineyard closely throughout the month of November and into December until we judge the time is right to begin picking. Selection of the individual clusters is draconian at this stage as pickers make several successive sweeps through the vineyard over a period of several weeks.

As you pour the wine, you will notice its rich viscosity promising a rewarding tasting experience. The aromas are concentrated and complex with scents of orange blossom, honeysuckle apricot and guava. The flavors fill the mouth in a hedonistic explosion of ripe tropical fruits and tangerine which lingers well after the wine is swallowed. Typical of all great dessert wines, our Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc shows the perfect balance of sweetness and acidity. It is easy to make an artificially sweet wine, but extremely difficult to make one produced by Nature in the classic tradition. And the difference is obvious once you taste it! We recommend this wine be served chilled.

Sauvignon Blanc 2014 Griva

Tasting notes:  Our 2014 Griva SB exhibits notes of ripe tropical fruits, grapefruit and melon. On the palate, the flavors are full and rich, showing complex essences of lime, grapefruit and gooseberry. A bit softer than our Signature bottling, it nonetheless exhibits a crisp, refreshing acidity.

 Fermentation: We ferment our Monterey Sauvignon Blanc at low temperature in stainless steel tanks. It is then aged for several months in large, neutral, 24 year-old French oak tanks to encourage integration of flavors. We use 3 specially selected yeasts, each one adding its particular nuance and style which enhances the complexity of the final blend.

Sauvignon Blanc 2014 Signature Griva

 Beginning with the 2014 vintage, Bernardus has chosen to bottle only Sauvignon Blanc grapes from the Griva Vineyard. Planted uniquely with the celebrated “Musqué” clone especially for Bernardus, it has long been the backbone of our Sauvignon Blancs. Also in 2014, we have debuted a tiny bottling of Signature Griva which represents a special selection of the best, most expressive lots from the vintage. We have included 5% of Semillon, also grown for us by Michael Griva, to add a note of richness and complexity to this superb wine.

  All our grapes are hand-picked during many successive pickings at various ripeness levels in order to have a broad palette of flavors and acidity levels from which to create our final blend.

Tasting notes:  Perhaps our finest bottling of Sauvignon Blanc to date, our 2014 Signature Griva SB exhibits notes of ripe tropical fruits and grapefruit and melon along with subtle hints of fresh grass. On the palate, the flavors are rich, crisp and intense, showing complex essences of lime, grapefruit and gooseberry along with an extra note of refreshing acidity.