Today we dive into the story behind one of the most known New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc brands…. Kim Crawford. If the name doesn’t sound familiar just google the bottle and you will know exactly what brand it is.

Sauvignon Blanc makes up more than 85% of New Zealand’s total wine exports. The brands upbringing was pretty legendary because they had a solid sales plan… aka produce a “high value product” with an “instantaneous return”. Sauvignon Blanc can be sold within a year of production because it doesn’t need to be aged in barrels like other varietals. Kim Crawford focused on the quality of the product, producing the wine, while his wife Erica managed the label. As a brand, they grew quickly and profitably and eventually sold the label to a large beverage alcohol company.

With the profits they made, Kim and Erica bought a vineyard (Loveblock Wines) to start cultivating their own grapes which eventually led to them producing wine once again. In this episode, I give you the spark notes story on their first label and the reason why they decided to sell it while diving into the vineyard they currently manage that produces top quality New Zealand wines.

We open up and taste a special Sauvignon Blanc in which the label is dedicated to Erica (Kim’s wife). I hope you get to try this wine and enjoy the episode!

1:25 - Intro to today’s episode

1:55 - Kim Crawford

2:55 - Big vision label

3:45 - Constellation Brands

4:30 - Why they sold the brand

5:20 - Build their own vineyard

5:40 - $50 million

6:30 - Non-compete clause

7:20 - Label synopsis

8:45 - Loveblock land

10:55 - Alluvial soils

13:45 - Open the wine

14:15 - Color & olfactory analysis

16:35 - Rating on the wine

Today’s Wine: Erica Sauvignon Blanc 2022 $30

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