Top tier Kiwi Sauv: Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc

Top tier Kiwi Sauv Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc

Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc 2011 (Marlborough, NZ)
13.5%, Screwcap, $26.50
Source: Sample
www.dogpoint.co.nz

Whilst it is absolutely uncool to say so (drink Kiwi Sauv), I’m happy to say that I rather enjoyed drinking a bottle of this wine recently (at Golden Century, with crab. Correct setting methinks). It was a whole bottle too. Important distinction that.

It’s probably not surprising I finished te bottle as I think this Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc is one of the more interesting ‘classic’ Marlborough Sauvs out there. By ‘classic’ I’m talking about the aromatic, unwooded style that made the regions name (and is now so maligned).

What makes this Dog Point so good however is also what sets it apart. The fruit is grown organically (though not certified as such) on the fully mature Dog Point vineyard; a vineyard where much of the grapes are sold to other producers, with the cream of the crop retained for the estate label. Those grapes are picked riper too, largely to avoid the overt herbaceousness of many other similar Marlborough Sauvs. Finally, whilst the wine is fermented and matured in stainless steel tanks, there is some judicious lees action to build layers of complexity.

The net result is a very correct, dry style Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and a very good one. Initially it looks a little green and herbal, but each sniff reveals more layers and different characters. Methinks that this has both early and later picked fruit in there, just for complexity. A+ for detail. Again unlike generic Marlborough Sauv the palate looks weighty and quite full with a melon/citrus flesh to match the tart green fruit and plumped out with a dash of lees richness, capped off with soft and supple acidity.

Very clever example of the style and exactly what you’d want in a Kiwi Sauv. It could do with a fraction more intensity perhaps, but that remains the only quibble. 

Drink: Now – 2014
Score: 18/93