This wine is a sophisticated expression of sauvignon blanc made in the traditional Bordeaux style of the Pessac-Léognan / Graves sub-regions. The fruit is from the Misery Hill vineyard, established in 1989, in the Porongurup sub-region of the Great Southern.
The fruit was picked in late March 2023. It was crushed, with the free run juice then sent to a stainless-steel tank. When the juice had settled, indigenous yeasts were introduced to encourage fermentation. Starting the fermentation in a stainless-steel tank ensured the fruit purity is maintained. After fermentation was underway, about one quarter of the juice was transferred to new Bordeaux oak barriques and the fermentation was completed in barrel. The remaining wine stayed in tank and on its lees for approximately three months. The two parcels were then blended together and prepared for bottling.
This approach balances the aromatics and fruit purity from stainless-steel tank with the trademark spice, texture and palate softness of barrel fermented sauvignon blanc. It produces a sophisticated, food friendly style.
Fumé Blanc was a name first used in the late nineteen sixties in Napa Valley, California, by vintner Robert Mondavi to denote a style of sauvignon blanc which had received oak treatment. The name is now widely used for oaked sauvignon blanc dominant wines.