Flavours of a summer fruit salad of paw paw, honeydew melon and ripe, golden quinces – drizzled with citrus flower water and a squeeze of orange skin oil. A delicious floral fragrance and juicy tropical fruit, infused with a fennel-like herbal thread and a faint whiff of wood smoke. Fermented entirely with naturally occurring yeast, this is an alternative style of Sauvignon Blanc that is both intricate and textural, with a rich, succulent palate finishing crisp and long with a flinty dryness.
Decanter Magazine January 2024
97 Points - New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc: Panel Tasting
Tasted by: Roger Jones, Freddy Bulmer, Cat Lomax (at Decanter tasting suite, London, 02 Nov 2023)
The flagship wine from renowned winemaker Kevin Judd, who founded this winery with wife Kimberley in 2009 after 25 years at Cloudy Bay. Sourced from sites across the region, it is fermented using wild yeasts in old French oak barriques where it rests on lees for six months. Roger Jones: Stylish balance of fruit to herbaceous notes, multi-layered with a crunchy texture, mellow yellow summer field flowers. The elegance at the end is quite remarkable. Freddy Bulmer: Attractive and clean on the nose, plenty of primary fruit but also a nice amount of savoury character from the oak. Well balanced and really quite a serious wine. Cat Lomax: Expressive, punchy nose. Great concentration, tonnes of luscious Sauvignon fruit supported by very smart use of oak. Tastes like pricey white Bordeaux. Delicious.
Notes above are for 2021
