Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines Launches Newhaven

08/02/07 Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines introduces Newhaven, a classic example of Sauvignon Blanc from the world-renowned Marlborough winegrowing region of New Zealand. The Newhaven 2006 Sauvignon Blanc shows an intense, forward nose with guava, grapefruit zest and honeysuckle aromas. It is a shining example of classic New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. The wine is launching nationally now and will be found in restaurants and on store shelves in February 2007 at a suggested retail price of $11.99.

Newhaven is crafted by Diageo Chateau & Estate Wine's Winemaker, Bob Masyczek (Mah-Chess-Key). In addition to more than twenty years of winemaking experience in the Napa Valley, eleven of those at the historic Beaulieu Vineyards winery, Masyczek also has a special passion for the vineyards of Australia and New Zealand. "I worked in New Zealand and Australia early in my winemaking career and feel very fortunate to be able to make wines there again," he says. "Only a few places in the world can define varietal character as well as Marlborough does for Sauvignon Blanc."

Grapes for the 2006 Newhaven Sauvignon Blanc are sourced primarily from the bucolic Wairau Valley with a smaller percentage coming from Awatere Valley, closer to the coast. Both areas have stony, sandy loam topsoils that overlay layers of free-draining "pea-gravel" soils -- conditions that reduce vine vigor and yield lush, aromatic wines with distinctive herbaceous aromas, bracing acidity and bright fruit flavors.

The Marlborough appellation, on the northeastern tip of New Zealand's South Island is one of the sunniest and driest regions in the country. As the largest winemaking region of New Zealand, Marlborough boasts a mild, maritime climate with long, sunny days and cool nights. Abundant sunshine ensures a long ripening season -- and thus, intensely-flavored grapes -- while the marked contrast between daytime high and nighttime low temperatures ensures good acid levels in the grapes. To capture the essence of the topography of New Zealand and the Marlborough region, Newhaven's label features a simple mountain and wave icon evoking the land and the sea.

Sauvignon Blanc is the flagship wine of New Zealand, accounting for almost 80 percent of New Zealand wine exports to the U.S. and more than 80 percent of consumption. With the introduction of Newhaven and the 2006 launch of Archetype Vineyards, definitive Shiraz wines from Australia's Barossa, Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines now offers quality premium wines in both the fastest growing and largest volume segments of the Southern Hemisphere.