Description
On Otira Glacial Stones in the Wairau Valley foothills, Clos Henri Stones Sauvignon Blanc 2020 is a Marlborough white from South Island, New Zealand, made entirely from Sauvignon Blanc and sourced from a single estate parcel. Clos Henri was established in 2000 by the Henri Bourgeois family of Sancerre, bringing a 10-generation French winegrowing background to Marlborough. The estate sits where glacial and tectonic forces created distinct soil profiles, including river-stone material on the plains and windblown clays on terrace and hill sites. For Stones, vines are planted at 4,400 plants per hectare on greywacke river-stone soils, with dry farming used to limit vigor; exact altitude and parcel exposure are not specified in the reviewed material. The 2020 was fermented with indigenous yeasts in 600-liter Austrian oak barrels, aged 20 months on fine lees with lees stirring, and bottled unfiltered with minimal handling. The cuvée places Clos Henri’s work within a soil-focused dialogue between Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and the Bourgeois family’s Sancerre inheritance.