TOHU REWA BLANC de BLANCS MÉTHODE TRADITIONNELLE 2016

Gold Medal – Marlborough Wine Show 2022
Gold Medal – Dish Magazine Top 12 Sparkling Wines for 2022

The 2016 Rewa Blanc de Blancs is a 100% Chardonnay Methode from an outstanding Marlborough vintage. The wine spent 54 months on yeast lees (the minimum for champagne is 15 months) creating a wine packed full of lovely toasty biscuity notes and a complex, lengthy finish. Drinking superbly well right now, you won't need a special occasion to justify opening this beauty!

Winery notes (2016 Vintage)
"This traditionally made wine displays lifted aromas of bright citrus fruit, crisp fresh apples and refined touches of brioche and toasted hazelnut. Extended lees aging in the bottle has resulted in a wine that displays a fine, persistent bead and rich, creamy mousse. Finely balanced with a touch of minerality, this wine leads to an elegant, long and crisp dry finish.

The Chardonnay grapes for this méthode traditionnelle are carefully handpicked before being lightly pressed at our modern winery. Pressings and free-run juices are initially kept separate before being racked clear to a temperature controlled stainless steel tank for the primary fermentation. After a long cool ferment the resulting wine is then warmed and undergoes full malolactic fermentation while aging in tank on yeast lees. The tirage (or bottling) of the base wine with yeast causes the wine to undergo a secondary yeast fermentation in the bottle – which creates the bubbles. Once the secondary ferment was complete the bottles were then put to rest for an extended 54 months on their lees in a temperature controlled warehouse before disgorging in September 2021. At disgorgement the lees are riddled from the bottle before topping, corking, then labelling."

5 Stars Michael Cooper (2016 Vintage)
"The impressive 2016 vintage was made from Chardonnay grapes, hand-picked at Rapaura, and disgorged after 54 months of aging on its yeast lees. Bright, light yellow/green, it is fragrant, vigorous and tight-knit, with intense, citrusy, appley flavours, crisp, unusually dry (2.3 grams/litre of residual sugar) and lasting. (Retasted in late 2023, it's drinking well now, with emerging biscuity, toasty notes enhancing its complexity.)"

5 Stars & 95/100 Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, December 2022 (2016 Vintage)
"Gorgeously styled and expressed, the bouquet shows crunchy apple, lemon zest, fig and brioche nuances, leading to a beautifully layered palate displaying excellent weight and silky texture. Elegant and wonderfully complex, offering fabulous drinking. At its best: now to 2028."

Rated Excellent, 5 Stars & 93/100 NZ Wine Rater, February 2022 (2016 Vintage)
"Bright, pale gold in hue with a fine bead. Complex bouquet dominated by intense, toasty, brioche, sourdough yeast autolysis aromas. Lighter and fresher to taste than the nose would suggest with a rich creamy mousse, zesty granny smith acidity, and hints of vanilla and butter giving way to a citrus, oyster shell finish."

4 Stars Cuisine Méthode Traditionnelle Tasting, November 2023 (2016 Vintage)
"A very pale gold in the glass with lovely toasty and nutty autolytic characters on the nose and through the palate against bright citrus and apple flavours. The bead is fine and persistent resulting in a very creamy mousse and lengthy finish."

*Note for courier freight – 12 bottle freight rate applies for up to each 6 bottles – we will contact you if applicable.