Lemongrass, fresh cut lime and pineapple. A lifted and vibrant nose. Juicy and vibrant fruit - green pineapple, mango and hints of guava on the front. There is a fine minerality on the finish, with bright acidity. This wine has a lovel round textural mid palate, enhanced by the wild ferment and use of concrete egg tank. Mt Difficulty Bannockburn Sauvignon Blanc will improve for 1-3 years given optimal cellaring conditions.

The grapes for the wines that carry the Mt Difficulty Bannockburn label are subject to two strict criteria: they are managed by our viticultural team and must be sourced from Bannockburn vineyards - the south side of the Kawarau River in the southern Cromwell basin. Mt Difficulty has three plantings of Sauvignon Blanc which fulfill these criteria; on Templars Hill, Mansons Farm and Saffron. Templars Hill soils vary across the vineyard from a mixture of heavy Scotland Point clay soils to drought-prone coarse gravel Bannockburn soils (classified as man-made due to the sluice mining). Mansons Farm is mostly comprised of Lochar Soils, which are ideally suited to viticulture. Saffron is predominantly comprised of Cromwell sands.

2024 continued a string of successful vintages in Central Otago. Dominated by a shift into an El Nino weather pattern, we experienced a very warm and dry growing season. There was very benign conditions at flowering to give us excellent yield potential, before the wind kicked in from November through January, keeping disease pressure low. While soil moisture levels were approaching drought levels, we manged to keep the vines vital through this period, which has given us very small berries, and concentrated, powerful wines with lovely balanced acidity.

The Sauvignon Blanc grapes from Templars Hill and Manson’s Farm were hand harvested through late March and early April. The fruit was destemmed, crushed and gently pressed and racked clean. The majority of the wine was fermented with indigenous yeast at cool temperature in stainless steel, this portion of the wine remained on gross lees for three months. A portion (15%) of the Manson’s Farm fruit was fermented warm in a concrete egg tank, to give a weighty, textural component. A small portion of Sauvignon from Silver Tussock was blended in prior to bottling to bring some freshness and herbal lift to the wine.