Willow Bridge Fumé Sauvignon Blanc 2011 (Pemberton, WA)
13%, Screwcap, $30
Source: Sample
www.willowbridge.com.au
I’m intrigued about the value of ‘fume’ on a label. It seems to be an esoteric term, recognised more by the industry than consumers. Wine producers – does it work for you? Or does it need the addition of ‘Sauvignon Blanc’ to get the message across?
Anyways, this is a pretty clever example of a ‘fumé’ from a completely unheralded region. Simon Burnell, Willow Bridge winemaker, is deliberately pushing the estate styles in a more serious direction of late, with all of the Willow Bridge wines looking, well, more serious as a result. Good serious at that.
Natural ferment and 10 months on lees in barrel. If anything this is still a bit raw around the edges, its best another year away. Serious indeed.
There is an intensity of lemon-buttercup, fresh fruit here, capped off with lees derived richness. Still fresh and breezy though. Texturally clever palate with a finesse to
that lees character and biting lemon acidity. Actually, that acidity is a bit firm, making it just a little haughty. Just needs the palate to put on some weight an all will be fine. Only a faint twang of rocky grey fruit to give away its Sauvness, the style rather taut and modern indeed.
I liked. Will like it even more when it settles down. The freshness and clever lees work is the key to its appeal for sure.
Drink: 2013-2016
Score: 17.5/20 91/100
Would I buy it? In 12 months time, maybe.
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Comment
Mr G,
Thanks for your comments.
As for the Fumé term, we agonised over it a bit ourselves, but ran with it in the end as it gets the message across to not expect another 'standard' Sauv Blanc better than any other term does. 'Barrel ferment' or whatnot is so clunky. This is Australia, so unless you're at the extremely boutique end of town – yep – you still need to put the variety on the front.
When I was at Mentelle, the most commonly returned wine was perfectly sound bottles of the Wallcliffe (barrel ferment Sauv/Sem)- with people thinking it had a range of problems from being oxidised through to one who swore we had stuffed up at bottling and that it was in fact chardonnay. They tried dropping the varieties off the front, forcing those who didn't know the wine to read the back label, but sales dropped and the varieties had to go back on.
Fumé seems to solve that problem as you'd be suprised how many punters instantly know what to expect. I remember when I was first getting into wine, all the "intro to wine" books and courses all mentioned the Robert Mondavi / Fumé Blanc story – despite (probably) none coming into Australia and no local producers using the term at the time. So far – in two releases using the name, we haven't had any 'confused' returns. Besides, it's fun to use a French term they forgot to put on the list of ones we cannot use – although I read somewhere that Oakridge got asked to stop using it by someone being over zealous at Wine Australia.
Our 2012 is morphing into an SB/S – so whether that will not fit into the neat little box in peoples' minds is the next question.
Cheers
Simon