Saint Clair Family Estate Dillons Point Sauvignon Blanc 2022
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James
Suckling - Vinous
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The Dillons Point Sauvignon Blanc is sourced from a selection of vineyards located predominantly in the lower Wairau sub-region of Marlborough. This region is renowned for producing excellent Sauvignon Blanc with heightened expression.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
White grapefruit, lemon pith, white pears and kaffir lime leaves on the nose. Tangy and crisp with a medium body. Excellent freshness.
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Vinous
The 2021 Sauvignon Blanc Dillons Point offers good concentration of fruit flavors in a focused core, delivering classical tropical characters alongside green gooseberry and a lick of flint. While I often find this subregion gives a sweaty character, that is reined in here, and the structure is sinewy and well-honed like a powerful athlete. The finish is long and fragrant, as if sweet peas have met passionfruit. There's the merest hint of sweetness on the finish, but it's in harmony.
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2021-
James
Suckling -
Wine
Spectator
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James
Suckling
Saint Clair Family Estate was founded in 1994 by Marlborough grapegrowing pioneers Neal and Judy Ibbotson, who in 1978 were among the first 10 growers to plant vineyards in the region. Through decades of learning, Saint Clair Family Estate has worked to identify superior Marlborough’s vineyard sites that today produce wines that are consistently awarded worldwide. Today, Neal uses his extensive viticultural expertise with Marlborough’s unique mix of climate and soils in combination with the talent of one of New Zealand’s leading winemaking teams to create acclaimed wines.
The Origin Series Sauvignon Blanc is made primarily from fruit grown in a specific sub-region of Marlborough’s lower Wairau Valley known as Dillons Point. Located near the mouth of the Wairau River as it empties into Marlborough Sound, the vineyard sites have deep, free-draining soils with layers of mineral salts, giving the wine its hint of salinity.
Capable of a vast array of styles, Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, refreshing variety that equally reflects both terroir and varietal character. Though it can vary depending on where it is grown, a couple of commonalities always exist—namely, zesty acidity and intense aromatics. This variety is of French provenance. Somm Secret—Along with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. That green bell pepper aroma that all three varieties share is no coincidence—it comes from a high concentration of pyrazines (herbaceous aromatic compounds) inherent to each member of the family.
An icon and leading region of New Zealand's distinctive style of Sauvignon blanc, Marlborough has a unique terroir, making it ideal for high quality grape production (of many varieties). Despite some common generalizations, which could be fairly justified given that Marlborough is responsible for 90% of New Zealand's Sauvignon blanc production, the wines from this region are actually anything but homogenous. At the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, the vineyards of Marlborough benefit from well-draining, stony soils, a dry, sunny climate and wide temperature fluctuations between day and night, a phenomenon that supports a perfect balance between berry ripeness and acidity.
The region’s king variety, Sauvignon blanc, is beloved for its pungent, aromatic character with notes of exotic tropical fruit, freshly cut grass and green bell pepper along with a refreshing streak of stony minerality. These wines are made in a wide range of styles, and winemakers take advantage of various clones, vineyard sites, fermentation styles, lees-stirring and aging regimens to differentiate their bottlings, one from one another.
Also produced successfully here are fruit-forward Pinot noirs (especially where soils are clay-rich), elegant Riesling, Pinot gris and Gewürztraminer.