Bedford Road Estate, distinctly New Zealand.  All Bedford Road wines are made with grapes solely from the Bedford Road Vineyard, which is situated on Riversleigh Estate’s 20 acre (8ha) property in the Wairau Valley in Marlborough, New Zealand's principal wine-producing region.

Ideally situated to take advantage of Marlborough's long, warm autumn days, plus the region's cool nights and the alluvial stony soils of the nearby Wairau River, Bedford Road Estate grows grapes to create single vineyard wines of the highest quality.

For more info, please visit www.bedfordroadestate.co.nz

WHITE:

Sauvignon Blanc
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Bruce Stapleton was born in South Africa but grew up in England (where his father moved as an RAF pilot in WWII), has led a fascinating life. He also enjoys the wisdom and more measured enthusiasm of maturity – and of somebody who knows what’s what. As Bruce explains it, there’s precious little of the gravelly, well-drained soils which made Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc famous still available these days. Most of the newer plantings are on heavier, less suitable soils. So when he had the chance to buy the superb Bedford Road property – just across the road from his Riversleigh Estate – he jumped. The next vineyard immediately beside it is the famed Renwick vineyard of Cloudy Bay, so you know this is a prime location for top-class sauvignon blanc.

When we tasted the 2003 version of this terrific New Zealand Sauvignon, we knew we had to buy it. And the 2004 and 2005 are even better!

A textbook New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc: crisp, pungent, and minerally, but with the pleasing texture and amazing freshness that have made the best Marlborough sauvignons such a worldwide sensation. I’d put this up against ANY New Zealand sauvignon – including its next-door neighbor Cloudy Bay.

Color: Pale straw with green hues
Aroma: Classic Marlborough aromas of gooseberry, elderflower and passionfruit with hints of nettle.
Palate: A light bodied, dry, crisp wine with powerful gooseberry and underlying currant and nettle tones on the palate. 
Firm mouth-watering acidity is balanced by a full yet elegant palate with a mineral finish and flavors that linger.
Aging Potential: Perfect for drinking immediately, this Sauv Blanc will be best over the next 1 to 2 years.
Wine Making: Drawn from the Riversleigh Estate’s Bedford Road Vineyard in the Conders Bend region of Marlborough’s Wairau Valley, each parcel of fruit for this wine was harvested in cool conditions to achieve maximum flavour development and ripeness from differing parts of the vineyard.  Pressed immediately with minimal skin contact, the settled juice was cool fermented in 100% stainless steel so as to retain fruit freshness and expression by a number of carefully selected yeasts, chosen for their ability to add complexity and interest.  Once blended the resulting wine was then carefully prepared for bottling with minimal handling, fining and filtration.

Pinot Gris
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Color:   Pale straw
Aroma:   Lifted aromas of pear-drop, apple and apricot.
Palate: A medium bodied mouth filling, warm, creamy palate, showing subtle hints of almonds, pears and dried apricots with touches of spice. 
Aging Potential: This wine is drinking well now and will be enjoyed over the coming 18-24 months.
Wine Making: Once maximum ripeness and flavor development was achieved in the vineyard, the fruit was harvested with no sulphur and pressed chilled using a gentle cremant cycle.  The juice was settled in tank and then a portion (10%) was racked to old oak for fermentation with indigenous yeast at cool temperatures. The balance was fermented in stainless steel to preserve fresh varietal characters. Malolactic fermentation followed the oak fermentation along with some lees stirring to soften out and enrich the palate increasing the complexity and mouth feel.  After 7 months of aging on lees the resulting wine was stabilized, balanced and prepared for bottling.

RED:

Pinot Noir
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Color:   Bright ruby
Aroma: Attractive aromas of cherries, currants and plums. Lifted floral notes also appear integrated with savory mushroom and toasty oak characters.
Palate: A medium bodied pinot noir with a soft full palate, well balanced acidity and flavors that linger.  Cherry notes dominate the palate and are supported by hints of plum and red currant. A mixture of new and old French oak offers rich savoury notes on the palate with a full lingering finish.
Aging Potential: This wine is drinking beautifully now and patient cellaring will be rewarded during the next 3-4 years
Wine Making: Sourced from the immaculately tended, low cropping Riversleigh Estate vineyard in the Conders Bend region of Marlborough, hand picked fruit at optimum ripeness was carefully transported to the winery for de-stemming and must chilling to small open top stainless steel fermenters. Each batch of fruit was cold soaked for 4-5 days to help extract maximum flavor and to enhance color stability.  A mixture of indigenous and cultured yeasts were employed to carry out the primary alcoholic fermentation during which the fermenting must was hand plunged up to six times daily.  At dryness the wine was pressed to tank and then racked off gross lees to a mixture of new (30%) and used French oak.  The wine was inoculated for Malolactic fermentation and was aged for10 months on lees before being blended, stabilized, lightly egg white fined and then prepared for bottling.