A secret wine

We found this Fareham Lane Marlborough Pinot Blanc 2005 in a bin end sale and snapped it up. $10 and an adventurous, happy grape variety so seldom found in Nu Zillund. Pyramid Valley make one in their 'growers series' and Greenhough from Nelson also but that's the end of the list.

Not only that but I'm guessing, due to the complete absence of mention about it on the Boundary Vineyards website, that this is no longer in production. Which is a shame as it's good stuff. So a secret wine and if I can find any more I'll snap it up.

Zesty and pale despite the bottle age. It's all Scarlett Johanson voluptuous on the nose but the palate gives up lemon sherbet overlaying a core of striking red delicious apple. Soft and embracingly long.


The bottle gives more wine-making information than most, which is nice as it's not available anywhere else.
Apparently the vineyard sits on an upper terrace of the Wairau River with semi-alluvial glacial outwash soils. Grapes were harvested and gently pressed. Light pressings were oxidised and reblended with the free run to add flavour and fatness to the wine. All that careful attention has certainly paid off and and uhappily it's probably just starting to show at its best now when it's languishing at the end of the bin end table unloved and unsold.