Winemaker Notes
The wine flows a very fine-textured, smooth line unfolding mouthwatering mineral notes, along with fresh lacy acidity lending energy and tension. The flavors carry to a long, lingering finish of passion fruit and minerals. This is an elegantly concentrated, lively and succulent Sauvignon Blanc with flavors of passion fruit, herbs, and green stone fruits, along with mouthwatering mineral notes.
Match with Pacific Rim fare over the next 2+ years.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made in a more restrained, food-friendly style than the Pencarrow bottling, the 2016 Sauvignon Blanc features hints of fig, melon and leafy black currants. There might even be a hint of stone fruit (nectarine?). Complexity and refinement carry through to the long, silky-textured finish.
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Wine & Spirits
The town of Martinborough is nestled between two rivers on the North Island. Allan Johnson blends this from two estate vineyards on ancient river terraces with opposite exposures—Clouston, just west of town, and East Base, across town. It’s a fleshy wine that builds from pithy lime-zest bitterness to fleshier pear and orange-oil notes as it develops with air. Decant it to bring out the wine’s finesse, and to serve with skate with brown butter and capers.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Bright and lively, the 2016 Palliser Estate Sauvignon Blanc nicely exhibits the focused and mineral-like nuances of the highly-respected Martinborough growing region. The wine's lively finish pairs it well with raw oysters. (Tasted: May 4, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
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.
Part of the Wairarapa region in the southern end of the country’s North Island, Martinborough is a bucolic appellation full of artisan, lifestyle wine producers. Above all else, their goals are to tend vineyards for low yields and create wines of supreme quality. Pinot noir is the main grape variety here, occupying over half of the land under vine.
Comparing topography, climate and soils, the region is nearly identical to Marlborough except that it produces top quality reds on the regular.