Announcing the arrival of a selection of wines from the fantastic STAETE LANDT WINERY in Marlborough, New Zealand.

Ruud and Dorien founded Staete Landt in 1998 with the vision of making intensely flavoured, complex and 100% estate grown wines from their 21 hectare vineyard on the ‘Golden Mile’ in Rapaura, Marlborough. The vineyard produces highly regarded single estate Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Riesling, Viognier, Pinot Noir and Syrah. Ruud’s focus is on winemaking and Dorien’s is on marketing and public relations.

Staete Landt is the old Dutch name given to New Zealand by Abel Tasman when he discovered the island in 1642. It means: "Land discovered in honour of the Governors (Staete) of the Dutch Republic". On his voyage Abel Tasman also discovered Tasmania (Van Diemen Land), Fiji and Tonga. At his return to the Dutch Republic it was decided to change Staete Landt to its present name "New Zealand".

The Staete Landt vineyards were planned according to the styles of wines that Ruud and Dorien wanted to produce. Aiming to make hand-crafted, complex, single vineyard wines, they divided the vineyard into 18 parcels, planting a selection of clones of the chosen varieties on various rootstocks to suit the different soil types. Each parcel is managed and harvested separately. In the vineyard the main focus is on keeping the vines healthy and balanced, in order to produce consistently ripe fruit with distinct Marlborough flavours. Through manual leaf plucking and shoot and bunch thinning they keep yields low and produce intensely flavoured grapes.

The vineyard's close proximity to the Wairau river, the main river in the Marlborough valley, produces a continuous airflow which keeps frosts away at crucial times during the grape growing season from budburst (September/October) through to harvest (March/April). The combination of the location of the vineyard, the stony riverbed soils and the heavier soils on the southern part of the vineyard enables them to produce single vineyard wines with depth and different layers of flavours.

The 2008 Sauvignon Blanc has just been bottled and will be launched after Xmas. The 2007 Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, and Syrah are not yet bottled and will be launched in the New Year. The 2008 Riesling Dry, Riesling Auslese and Viognier will be launched after March 2009.

Staete Landt has an excellent website with technical and tasting notes. http://www.staetelandt.co.nz/


STAETE LANDT Pinot Noir 2006 Bottle £15.95

The 2006 Staete Landt Pinot Noir beautifully expresses the terroir of the clay-layered soils in the Staete Landt vineyard. The wine is elegant and multi-layered, complex with powerful spicy fruit driven tannins. The attractive aromas show strawberries and ripe black cherries with violets and a lovely earthy complexity. On the palate this is a full-bodied Pinot Noir with an elegant tannin structure and a lingering finish of spices like cloves, bay leaves and gamy flavours. This wine will repay cellaring for three to five years.
THE WINE SPECTATOR 90-92 points 'Graceful and fragrant, with a lovely array of raspberry, spice, strawberry and dried herb flavors. Savory mineral and crushed stone accents, cedary oak and a supple structure harmonize in the deft, lingering finish. Drink now through 2010.'

STAETE LANDT Sauvignon Blanc 2007 Bottle £11.95

A complex and intensely aromatic Sauvignon Blanc. This wine is perfumed with aromas of tropical fruit such as mango's, papaya and passion fruit. This sauvignon blanc is full bodied, the pungency of the tropical fruit is dominant, backed by characters of fresh cut grass, red capsicum and an elegant mineral finish. A complex style sauvignon blanc with a crisp ripe attractive acidity.
This is a wine for drinking whilst young but has the substance and concentration to develop well over two to five years once the primary fruit aromas have subsided.

STAETE LANDT Chardonnay 2006 Bottle £13.95

This wine was aged in 100% French oak barrels the majority of which were older than 5 years and approximately 25% were new. This has produced a complex yet subtle wine that has an intense, ripe nectarine, leesy aroma overlaying a creamy almond, vanilla character, rather than overt fruitiness. This is a full bodied and elegant wine, with a dry and crisp finish.

STAETE LANDT Pinot Gris 2006 Bottle £15.95

This is a full-bodied, complex dry wine. It is a lovely example of the varietal. It is full, round and ripe in the mouth with pears, guava and papaya aromas combined with intriguing hazelnut complexity. It has excellent length and structure. This wine is very approachable whilst young but will become more complex over the next five years.

Please call us on 736418 for more details and if you would like to order some of these fantastic wines. Jane will be adding these wines to the website very soon so that you can purchase online too.