Winemaker Notes
An enticing combination of ripe summer fruit, fresh herbs and flowers. Candied citrus peel and honeysuckle, shortbread and brioche, tarragon and lemon thyme. A feast of sweet perfume intertwined with a delicate, smoky nuance. Fermented entirely with naturally occurring yeast, this is an alternative style of sauvignon blanc that is both intricate and textural, with a rich, generous palate that finishes with a flinty dryness.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Complex, flinty, mineral, wild and earthy. Aromas and flavours of peach and preserved lemon, tropical flowers and grapefruit, hay, fresh herb and fruit spice. Distinctive texture with a fine lees, brisk acidity and a mineral mouthfeel. Expressive and complex, lengthy and delicious. A fascinating wine!
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James Suckling
This has a clever, complex nose, offering aromas of gunflint, herbs and lime peel with a grassy edge. The palate has a very textural and layered feel with rich peach and pear flavors that lead to a dry, satisfyingly long, tropical-laced finish. Drink now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Wild Sauvignon offers lanolin and wet garden rose, green apple, white pepper and brine. In the mouth, the wine is silky and long, with a lithe extension of tannic structure through the long finish. 2018 was a challenging vintage from a rain perspective; there was cyclonic activity in the region, and the rain came early in the harvest. As Sauvignon Blanc is one of the varieties harvested later in Marlborough, it was spared the difficulty brought on by the weather. The rain presented some disease pressure for the early varieties in this season, i.e., the Pinot Noirs. This is an excellent wine, measured by both vintage triumph and regional expression. It's sapid and piercing. 13.5% alcohol.
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.