Owner and winemaker, Dave Clouston, has been making Sauvignon Blanc since Two Rivers first vintage in 2004. Our flagship wine: ‘Convergence’ Sauvignon Blanc is a success story, enjoying worldwide acclaim, but by 2013 Dave wanted to try and make a less fruit driven, more complex, textural, age worthy style of Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough’s Southern Valleys… And thus the first ‘Altitude’ Sauvignon Blanc was born.

Two vintages on, we have just released our ‘Altitude’ Sauvignon Blanc 2015. This time, Dave has tweaked up the interesting notch further, adding a concrete egg component to the wine. 40% was wild fermented in a concrete egg tank, while 60% went wild in 8 year old hogshead barrels. The wine was then aged for 10 months in these vessels, with a small portion going through MLF.

“I think barrel is great for texture and weight but the egg gives the wine more purity, elegance and freshness while still adding texture and complexity,” says Dave.

“Concrete is slightly more porous than stainless steel, so it lets the wine evolve naturally and gain more complex, savoury characters.”

The oval shape of the egg tank also plays a unique role in the aging process. “As the accumulation of lees increases from the widest part of the tank to the narrower part, the lees slowly starts rolling over itself, allowing a continuously mixing of the lees without any external interruption of the wine,” explains Dave. “I’m not sure if the egg is better than barrel but I think it brings a certain intellectual component to the wine which I really enjoy.”

Dave believes Sauvignon Blanc should be cherished and this exciting example demonstrates how diverse and age worthy Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc can be.