Winemaker Notes
Soft and textured savvy. Warm ferment and skin have taken out some of the zingy bite you might expect of the traditional Sauvignon Blanc. Very rounded and moreish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Marlborough Natural Sauvignon Blanc by Josh Scott is gently hazy in the glass, and on the nose, leads with graphite, lanolin, beeswax, juniper, green apple skins, white pepper and brine. It's really good. The wine is concentrated and precise, grainy and firm, intense and juicy. It sort of ticks all the boxes, and I like it a lot, which I didn’t think I would. It has a cat in glasses on the label, but it's much better than that.
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Wine Spectator
Generous and aromatic, this packs generous passion fruit, pineapple and peach flavors and bright acidity. Offers a texture that's fleshy and nuanced, while the finish shows abundant green tea and dried herbal notes that add complexity.
Capable of a vast array of styles, Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, refreshing variety that equally reflects both terroir and varietal character. Though it can vary depending on where it is grown, a couple of commonalities always exist—namely, zesty acidity and intense aromatics. This variety is of French provenance. Somm Secret—Along with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. That green bell pepper aroma that all three varieties share is no coincidence—it comes from a high concentration of pyrazines (herbaceous aromatic compounds) inherent to each member of the family.
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.