The embodiment of Mother Nature, Earth goddess Gaia, represents Mission’s deep and enduring commitment to our natural world. Seeking to minimise our impact on Earth a little more each day, The Gaia Project unites our many ongoing environmental practices to preserve our Earth for future generations.
This single vineyard Sauvignon Blanc is a unique expression of our Blind River vineyard in the Awatere Valley. This windy, coastal site with glacial loess soils yields small crop loads with powerful aromatic intensity. This parcel of fruit received extended skin contact, building structure, body and length into the palate. The wine was fermented with a highly aromatic yeast strain resulting in lime-leaf, nettle, lemongrass and passionfruit characters.
The Gaia Project wines are kind on nature and wild on taste. Every aspect of their creation has been carefully considered to offer wine lovers an environmentally conscious choice with great flavour. The Gaia Project wines reflect our sustainability journey so far, from vineyard to glass.
New Zealand Winegrowing
Central to the success of New Zealand as a world-renowned wine growing region is the temperate maritime climate and the free-draining alluvial soils. The growing season is long, providing perfect conditions for slow ripening and full flavour development. Cool nights and warm days retain acidity which lends freshness and vibrancy to the wines, highly characteristic of New Zealand wine styles.
Marlborough Region
Located at the top of the South Island, Marlborough wine region is perfect for producing cool climate styles. Marlborough is one of New Zealand’s sunniest and driest places with a long growing season and strong dirunal temperature varation. This leads to wines with high acidity, fruit driven flavours and intesnse varietal characters.
The Gaia Project Sustainability Practices
• Mission has been a founding member of Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand since 1995 and ISO 14001 certified since 1998 – one of only a few wineries in
New Zealand to have both certifications
• Some vineyards are certified BioGro Organic with others under conversion
• Every year we measure and benchmark our winery energy and water use with wineries of the same size. Consistently, we are below average. In 2021 we are:
• 58% more energy efficient and
• 63% more water efficient, compared with wineries of the same size
• We employ regenerative viticulture techniques and have been a leader in
organic vineyard research. In 2015, Mission was the winner of the Ballance Farm Environmental Awards for Excellent Soil Management
• Our packaging is lighter on Earth with 30% recycled content in the labels, lightweight bottles and 73% recycled content in the cartons
Soils
Glacial loess soils with a proportion of clay particles.
Growing Season
Dry, sunny and warm conditions delivering intense and characterful wines.
Winemaking Technique
Carefully selected, gently pressed and a long, cool fermentation. The juice was inoculated with a specially developed, aromatic yeast strain to intensify varietal
character development. Following fermentation the wine was batch selected for varietal intensity and blended to create a perfectly balanced wine.
