Abstract - Three Rows Sauvignon Blanc 2019
← Blank Canvas
Vineyard: Holdaway Vineyard
Subregion: Dillons Point
Region: Marlborough
Vintage: 2019
Soil Type: Young alluvial silts over sand
Clone: Mass selection
Viticulture: Dry-farmed and regeneratively managed | Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand Certified (SWNZ)
Growers: The Holdaway family
Appellation Marlborough Wine Certified.
TASTING NOTE
If classic Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is all fruit and zing, Abstract exists in another dimension altogether. It's our 'Savoury Blanc', where texture and aromatic complexity bedazzle, and where vineyard and winemaking contribute equally. Just three rows of a dry-farmed parcel are handpicked from the Holdaway Vineyard in Dillons Point. There's an intense and seductive perfume of blackcurrant and white florals, while winemaking lends savouriness and flinty minerality. Wild fermented in seasoned French oak puncheons and lees-aged for I4 months, this is a wine rich in texture. With elegance and beautiful balance, it is for enjoyment now but will age with grace and dignity.
VINTAGE
Vintage 2019 was one of the driest vintages on record and for many in the region one of the lowest cropping. Sauvignon Blanc in Dillons Point found itself in a good position with ready access to water and deep, silt-rich soils maintaining ground moisture. For those who managed the yield appropriately the balance between vine health and fruit quality was exemplary. The Holdaways sow diverse cover crops which are then harvested to the ground to maintain soil moisture, alleviating the pressure from the long dry spell. The resulting healthy canopies meant the fruit developed plenty of intense passionfruit and blackcurrant characters alongside the trademark Dillons Point saltiness.
VITICULTURE
The Holdaway vineyard is in the Dillons Point sub-region on the coastal fringe of the Wairau Valley. The vineyard is owned by the Holdaway family who have been farming in Marlborough for generations. Alan and Janette and their sons Richard and Robbie practice regenerative viticulture; prioritising soil health through composting, growing impressive inter-row mixed species plantings to increase organic matter in the soil and a zero-till policy. The 'Abstract' Sauvignon Blanc three row parcel is dry-farmed, a relatively rare practice in Marlborough. The vineyard is VSP-trained and cane-pruned.
WINEMAKING
The grapes were selectively hand-harvested on 27" March. We gently whole-bunch pressed the fruit with the free run juice only going to three to five-year-old French oak puncheons (500L). The wine was left to ferment naturally with wild yeasts and with full solids. We did not stir the barrels at all throughout their time in oak, and this vintage went through natural malolactic fermentation. Maturation on lees took place over 14 months before it was bottled without filtration on 14* July 2020.
Reviews for Abstract - Three Rows Sauvignon Blanc 2019
"The 2019 Sauvignon Blanc Abstract Three Rows is a pure and sophisticated wine from, true to its name, three rows of a dry farmed parcel. It is bright and tangy yet savory. The fruit is pure and delicate, like a cloud. It is transparent and yet expansive in the mouth, having no heaviness. Light honey, nectarine, musky boxwood and oatmeal flavours abound with a light creamy character. Sensitive Sauvignon."
"From the Dillons Point sub-region. Fermented and aged for 14 months in five-year-old French oak puncheons. This wine stands out in a crowd ... of sauvignons. For a start it has a rich, mouth-filling texture and real depth of fruit with a mouth-watering savouriness. Don't quaff it, savour it. This is serious sauvignon 22/6/2022"
"Complex and new, modern and enticing bouquet of lemon curd and lees spices, fresh peach and quince, there’s a natural soil smoky quality with a fine dried herb and natural varietal lift. Delicious with flavours of yellow apple and lemon, quince and peach stone, an orange barley sugar quality with mineral and floral herb tones. Acidity and soft saline qualities add crunch and texture while the core fruit flavours fill the mid palate and add lengthy as well as complexity. Delicious, fresh and complex. Best drinking from 2022 through 2029."
"The distinctive, delicious, very harmonious 2019 vintage (5*) was designed to be a 'cellar-worthy' and 'savoury' Sauvignon Blanc. Hand-harvested in the Holdaway Vineyard, at Dillons Point, it was fermented and lees-aged for over a year in seasoned French oak puncheons. Bright, light lemon/green, it is mouthfilling, with fresh, rich, tropical fruit flavours, nutty notes adding complexity, and a finely textured, long finish. Drink now or cellar."