Cheers from Bordeaux, as our Director's Reserve White wins big at the inaugural Concours Mondial du Sauvignon.
It's been a spectacular year for the 2008 Tokara Directors Reserve White. First there was the Grand Roche trophy for the best wooded-white blend at the 2010 Old Mutual Wine Trophy Awards. Now, in June 2010, it's won a Special Trophy at the first ever Concours Mondial du Sauvignon, held in Bordeaux.
The award for Tokara was one of only five trophies across several different categories. Of the 512 entrants, just 151 achieved silver medals or better.
Gold medal winners were tasted again, and a Special Trophy awarded to the overall winner in each class. So Tokara truly stands proud on the world stage!
Attention to detail, every step of the way
The Special Trophy winner is a blend of 72% Sauvignon Blanc and 28% Semillon, with grapes harvested from Tokara's Stellenbosch vineyards.
The Semillon is from a single block, yielding around 9 tonnes per hectare. The Sauvignon Blanc is from two vineyards (the highest on the property), yielding between 4 and 9 tonnes per hectare.
The Sauvignon Blanc was sulphured in the barrel directly after fermentation, to prevent malolactic fermentation. In contrast, the Semillon underwent partial malolactic fermentation. The wines spent 9 months in barrel on the gross lees, with regular lees stirring.
Appropriately, all barriques were French oak - with 20% being new, and the balance second, third, fourth and fifth fill barrels.
