Blank Canvas Abstract Three Rows Sauvignon Blanc 2021 [VM 96]

Vinous Magazine, Rebecca Gibbons MW, 96 points and highest rated NZ white wine.

Winemaker's Notes: 

If classic Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is all fruit and zing, Abstract exists in another dimension altogether. It’s our ‘Savoury Blanc’, where texture and aromatic complexity bedazzle, and where vineyard and winemaking contribute equally. Just three rows of a dry-farmed parcel are handpicked from the Holdaway Vineyard in Dillons Point. There’s an intense and seductive perfume of blackcurrant and white florals, while winemaking lends savouriness and flinty minerality. Wild fermented in French oak puncheons (15% new) and lees-aged for 15 months, this is a wine rich in texture. With elegance and beautiful balance, it is for enjoyment now but will age with grace and dignity.

From the very low-yielding, concentrated 2021 vintage, this wine has a promising future ahead of it.