Vavasour - Sauvignon Blanc - 2022

$25.99

Vavasour put the Awatere Valley on the map, and this bottling shows why the sub-region gets its own name inside Marlborough. The 85-hectare estate sits on ancient glacial gravels with brutal diurnal swings between hot days and cold nights, and it shows: intense, concentrated fruit with a mineral edge you don't get from the rest of Marlborough. Stu Marfell ferments with indigenous yeast and lets it sit on light lees for texture. Grab it for the patio, the raw bar, or anyone who thinks all Sauvignon Blanc tastes the same.

Passion fruit, pineapple and lemon zest up front, with a savory oyster-shell minerality underneath and a creamy texture from lees contact. Finishes long on lime sherbet and lemon thyme.

Classic matches for Sauvignon Blanc: Goat cheese, oysters, green salads, anything with fresh herbs.

The estate vineyard sits at 85 hectares in the Awatere Valley, a low-fertility patch of stone, pebble, clay and loam battered by wind off the mountains, with rainfall as low as 11 inches a year. Harvested at night to protect the fruit, then cold-settled and fermented cool to lock in the aromatics.