Hunters Offshoot Sauvignon Blanc Pet Nat 2022

Hunter’s Wines is one of Marlborough’s most historic and celebrated wineries, Established in 1979 by Ernie Hunter, the winery gained international acclaim when Hunter’s Sauvignon Blanc won six gold medals at the London Sunday Times Wine Festival in 1986.

Ernie met and married Jane, who came from a family of South Australian grape growers and was a viticulturist herself. Today, Jane runs the winery and is a proud spokeswoman for Marlborough wine and with three decades at the helm, her years of service to the industry have been acknowledged with both an OBE and a CNZM. Hunter’s is now the only Marlborough estate founded in the 1970s remaining in the original family ownership.

The estate comprises over 100 hectares of vineyards in the Wairau Valley, planted to five white varietals and Pinot Noir, all carrying sustainable certification.

The Sauvignon Blanc grapes were hand-harvested before being whole bunch pressed. The juice was fermented using indigenous yeasts, but before the completion of primary fermentation, the partially fermented juice was bottled under crown seal. This method allows fermentation to finish in the bottle, naturally producing carbonation and resulting in a lightly sparkling wine. The wine remained on its lees in the bottle for several months. To maintain the wine's natural character, disgorging was performed without dosage, and the wine was not fined or filtered, resulting in a cloudy appearance typical of Pét Nat wines.