Winemaker Notes
Pale gold. Aromas of green apple and honeysuckle, with lemon honey and a little vanilla from the oak. Medium-bodied, with a focused, mineral length and flavors of crisp apple, lemon and peach. Made to age gracefully; weight and honeyed flavors will result from cellaring.
Pair with spring vegetables, grilled fish, goat’s cheese soufflé, pork terrine, and apple or pear salads.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2020 Chenin Blanc The Wrekin is a dry yet richly textured white, offering fruit weight through the midpalate, yet maintains purity and a clean line. It has a sense of clarity no doubt assisted by careful handling, including hand-harvesting and whole-bunch pressing, while texture and pastry-like flavors have been bult through lees aging. You can expect subtle apple flavors and white flowers on the precise finish.
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Wine Spectator
Dried chamomile, orange zest and candied ginger flavors are aromatic and distinct on a medium frame, showing notes of nectarine and citrus, with firm acidity.
Unquestionably one of the most diverse grape varieties, Chenin Blanc can do it all. It shines in every style from bone dry to unctuously sweet, oaked or unoaked, still or sparkling and even as the base for fortified wines and spirits. Perhaps Chenin Blanc’s greatest asset is its ever-present acidity, maintained even under warm growing conditions. Somm Secret—Landing in South Africa in the mid 1800s, today the country has double the acreage of Chenin Blanc planted compared to France. There is also a new wave of dedicated producers committed to restoring old Chenin vines.
An icon and leading region of New Zealand's distinctive style of Sauvignon blanc, Marlborough has a unique terroir, making it ideal for high quality grape production (of many varieties). Despite some common generalizations, which could be fairly justified given that Marlborough is responsible for 90% of New Zealand's Sauvignon blanc production, the wines from this region are actually anything but homogenous. At the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, the vineyards of Marlborough benefit from well-draining, stony soils, a dry, sunny climate and wide temperature fluctuations between day and night, a phenomenon that supports a perfect balance between berry ripeness and acidity.
The region’s king variety, Sauvignon blanc, is beloved for its pungent, aromatic character with notes of exotic tropical fruit, freshly cut grass and green bell pepper along with a refreshing streak of stony minerality. These wines are made in a wide range of styles, and winemakers take advantage of various clones, vineyard sites, fermentation styles, lees-stirring and aging regimens to differentiate their bottlings, one from one another.
Also produced successfully here are fruit-forward Pinot noirs (especially where soils are clay-rich), elegant Riesling, Pinot gris and Gewürztraminer.