Winemaker Notes
The 2024 Sunninghill Sauvignon Blanc captures the vintage’s richness and verve. A brief July heat wave locked in a high natural acidity while developing a lovely range of exotic flavors. The nose offers passion fruit and gooseberry with a delicate touch of cream. On the palate, lively acidity meets rounded texture, creating a crisp yet savory finish. The '24 is an exciting and dramatic iteration from the little one-acre jewel we call the Sunninghill block.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A lovely, concentrated and elegant wine that has the crispness and energy to balance its lush, fruity, savory, almost honeyed flavors. Full-bodied, showing interesting complexity and flavors of minerals, earth, Bosc pears and lemon zest. Drink now or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Snowden's 2024 Sauvignon Blanc Sunninghill was fermented and matured in a mix of older oak and stainless steel barrels. Grapefruit, fig, melon and guava notes mark the nose, while the palate is medium- to full-bodied, quite broad upfront, yet it narrows down nicely into a long, focused finish with excellent length.
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Vinous
The 2024 Sauvignon Blanc is a very pretty wine from Snowden. In this vintage, the Sauvignon Blanc leans into more of the apricot/peach end of the flavor spectrum. It also shows a bit more textural oiliness than in most years. That's a style that works quite well.
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.
One of the world's most highly regarded regions for wine production as well as tourism, the Napa Valley was responsible for bringing worldwide recognition to California winemaking. In the 1960s, a few key wine families settled the area and hedged their bets on the valley's world-class winemaking potential—and they were right.
The Napa wine industry really took off in the 1980s, when producers scooped up vineyard lands and planted vines throughout the county. A number of wineries emerged, and today Napa is home to hundreds of producers ranging from boutique to corporate. Cabernet Sauvignon is definitely the grape of choice here, with many winemakers also focusing on Bordeaux blends. White wines from Napa Valley are usually Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that claim specific wine characteristics based on situation, slope and soil. Farthest south and coolest from the influence of the San Pablo Bay is Carneros, followed by Coombsville to its northeast and then Yountville, Oakville and Rutherford. Above those are the warm St. Helena and the valley's newest and hottest AVA, Calistoga. These areas follow the valley floor and are known generally for creating rich, dense, complex and smooth red wines with good aging potential. The mountain sub appellations, nestled on the slopes overlooking the valley AVAs, include Stags Leap District, Atlas Peak, Chiles Valley (farther east), Howell Mountain, Mt. Veeder, Spring Mountain District and Diamond Mountain District. Napa Valley wines from the mountain regions are often more structured and firm, benefiting from a lot of time in the bottle to evolve and soften.