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Monday, April 8, 2024

2021 Downes Family Sanctuary Peak Sauvignon Blanc


Great Sauvignon Balnc
2021 Downes Family Sanctuary Peak Sauvignon Blanc...$14.99
Suggested retail $17
"Made with the help of Master of Wine Richard Kershaw, this is a serious, well structured Sauvignon Blanc that outperforms many of its peers. Blackcurrant leaf and elderflower flavors provide lots of crunch and focus, with some added structure from partial skin contact before fermentation. 2022-25"
Rated 91/100 Tim Atkin
(Master of Wine and wine writer for Decanter Magazine)


We find the typical aromatic and flavor spectrum of the typical Kiwi SB to be very abrupt and we find many of those wines lean in the mid palate. Consequently, we often find the back palate acid structures to be unnecessarily aggressive. So when Stuart and James Downes told us they were making SB that a Riesling drinker would appreciate, they had our attention. Sauv Blanc in Elgin can often be a bit green and vegetal. Most attempts to build the mid palate of these wines result in an overly pungent version of that aromatic component. By using a tiny amount of barrel fermented and aged SB, they’re able to create a wine with great length and raciness, drawing out these wonderful mineral notes, but with plenty of power and richness in the mid palate. Production is around 2500 cases.

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