Sauvignon Blanc 11.3 % Alc

Below are the tasting notes for the 2021 Forest White. This 2022 Forest White is a further evolution of the wine and is drinking beautifully…

2021 Forest White

Sauvignon Blanc 12 % Alc

The block itself is a steep intensely beautiful block dropping off to the south east with mighty views and underlaid by a rich seam of gold and pyrite bearing quartz on a bedrock of slate. Minerality abounds.

These vines are 30+ years. The slope awakens to the morning sun and is sheltered by the afternoon. This block has also been uncultivated for more than three decades and was cleared for the first time when it was planted. To walk through this section is to be amazed by a luxuriant native perennial pasture of wallaby and spear grasses in regenerative harmony.

Ever since taking on the farm in 2016 we have worked with intent on crafting a single site wine from the block that we call “Pink Gums” (a name for our internal communication because of the native eucalyptus, Eucalyptus fasciculosa growing around this block).

Its been a real journey finding the sweet spot for this Sauvignon Blanc and here we are finally, some years later with our first “success” - that is a wine which hints at the beauty that lies bellow the top soil.

Originally we chased ripeness in the grapes, choosing not to harvest until they reached nearly 13% alc to really highlight the apricot blush that the bunches were picking up, but perhaps due to the fragility of the site the wine would always stop its fermentation with a gram or two of sugar remaining. No worries - in ’17 and again in ’18 we blended this wine with macerated Sauvignon Blanc from a couple of our other vineyards on the farm and created our first versions of Forest White. 2019 we had the same issue but left the barrel to age longer and eventually blended it with two other barrels that were on the same trajectory - Juno, Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc and a barrel of direct pressed Pinot Gris we called White Ash. These three barrels we blended together before the next harvest to create a never to be seen again beauty of a wine we named ‘Yellow’.

In 2020 in the depths of a terrible drought we seem to have lost track of pink gums and what happened to the wine this year, perhaps it was distilled along with Peaches. That brings us to 2021 and a change in weather (lots of rain!) and of approach. From this year onwards we decided to pick much earlier, aiming to amplify the minerality and acidity in a way similar to Geoponika, whilst doing away with the old barrels and fermenting and ageing only in a large terracotta amphora to help with the body of the wine. This all seems to have worked as both the ’21 and ’22 Forest White wines are absolute fire crackers - dry, mineral in the extreme and very delicious. As such we are very pleased to offer the 2021 for drinking. The 2022 will be in a later release.

Just as we got the hang of all of that we made no direct press of Pink Gums in the current 2023 vintage as it found its way as whole bunches into Peaches - that’s just the way the harvest went.