Zephyr, MK I Pinot Noir Rosé, Marlborough, New Zealand, 2021

Producer Profile

Ben Glover, of Wither Hills fame, is now focusing on matters closer to home and has taken charge of his family winery, Zephyr.

Referring to himself humbly as the janitor, Ben creates wines from their own vineyards in the renowned Marlborough sub-region of Dillon's Point. The whites especially deserve to be compared with other world class whites rather than merely the best of Marlborough. No more so than with the MKIII Sauvignon Blanc, that is a star in any line up. Taken from the Rabbit Island block that, thanks to its East/West planting, captures both wonderful aromatics and lush tropical notes in its grapes. Once pressed, the juice ferments in barrels to produce a complex, waxy Graves lookalike, albeit at a rather more accessible price point.

Viticulture

The Glover family vineyards, planted in 1985 alongside the meandering Opawa River, have inspired the family’s passion for wine. The vineyard is now very much an aromatic specialist with Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurztraminer and Riesling. The viticultural and winemaking philosophy embraces the structural strengths of the vineyard. The wines show classic cool climate precision matched with palate depth and the ability to support texture. Winemaker Ben Glover says "I have always wanted to express the exquisite refined bouquet, the precise structure and the 'line' of these aromatic wines from our farm. Zephyr allows me to do this - winegrowing is a natural expression and extension of what our family and I have done on this property for years and the opportunity to pay them back with home grown, world class wines is too good to be true," says Ben. Ben is now working towards all the wines having organic certification starting with the 2020 vintage for some of the wines.

Winemaking

From Marlborough's oldest organic vineyard with over 30yr old vines. The grapes were machine picked with the neighbouring winery then gently pressed off to avoid any colour mix-up. Cold settled for a few days before racking off and warmed for a yeast inoculation using a neutral yeast. Fermented cooly to maintain bright aromas, for approx. 20 days. The wine was then cold settled again before racking off gross yeast lees, no finings and sterile filtered prior to bottling.

Oak Ageing

No oak ageing

Tasting Note

The MKI Single Vineyard Rosé from the Coterie Brink Block is the regions oldest certified organic vineyard in Marlborough. Bright salmon pink in colour, this has fresh strawberry leaf and water melon on the nose, sour cherry and crunchy acidity on the palate.

Food Matching

Sashimi or goat cheese tartlets.