Technical Analysis
A strict selection of Elgin’s best quality vineyards and wine batches, mostly from a single producer. Six different blocks of Sauvignon Blanc are used to create a various number of batches of wine to select from for the blend.
Tasting note
A very focused style of Sauvignon blanc showing fresh granadilla, granny smith apple and white pear, with underlying chalk and slate notes confirming the Elgin origin of the grapes. The palate is finely textured with crisp fruit, fresh natural acidity, and a deceptively long finish of flavours. A wine showing the true expression of Elgin terroir on Sauvignon blanc
Vintage conditions
A winter with rainfall recordings that were only slightly higher than the long-term average. The flowering and berry set season posed some challenges, regarding diseases, due to the higher humidity and odd rain showers – this led to a slight unevenness in the bunches. The ripening period experienced very cool nights and lovely warm days, three periods of heat waves, but all were under the two day threshold, which left a very minimal effect on the bunches. The bunches remained healthy and the cool nights made for a rather late season. These earlier ripening varietals showed well with good concentration and flavour.
Tasting Video
With Cellarmaster Kevin Arnold
Technical Analysis
A strict selection of Elgin’s best quality vineyards and wine batches, mostly from a single producer. Six different blocks of Sauvignon Blanc are used to create a various number of batches of wine to select from for the blend.
Tasting note
A strict selection of Elgin’s best quality vineyards and wine batches. A very focused style of Sauvignon blanc showing fresh grapefruit, granadilla and green apple fruit, with underlying chalk and slate notes confirming the Elgin origin of the grapes. The palate is finely textured with crisp fruit, fresh natural acidity, and a deceptively long finish of flavours. A wine showing the true expression of Elgin terroir on Sauvignon blanc.
Vintage conditions
There were good winter rains but still below the normal average, with odd warm days and some snowfall during late winter/ early spring along with some rain helped dam levels rise. These conditions also prepared for good, even budding to start the growing season. Mid-growing season was a little challenging with odd rain showers driving up humidity and disease pressure. With good growing conditions, came along a large quantity of bunches which required the team to do excessive bunch thinning and yield control measures, which gave a great opportunity to really select the best bunches available to ripen. A week before the harvest was to commence, the vineyards had to experience howling winds reaching up to 110km/h causing a lot of physical damage. During ripening the odd heat wave was experienced but overall lovely warm days and coolish nights allowed for perfect ripening and earlier picking dates. This resulted in lovely fresh, flavoured and rich wines with relatively low alcohol levels.
Tasting Video
With Cellarmaster Kevin Arnold
Technical Analysis
A strict selection of Elgin’s best quality vineyards and wine batches, mostly from a single producer. Six different blocks of Sauvignon Blanc are used to create a various number of batches of wine to select from for the blend.
Tasting note
A very focused style of Sauvignon Blanc showing fresh granadilla and green apple fruit, with underlying chalk and slate notes confirming the Elgin origin of the grapes. The palate is finely textured with crisp fruit, fresh natural acidity, and a deceptively long finish of flavours.
Vintage conditions
The ongoing drought continued to play a huge role on the 2019 vintage, a dry and warm winter hindering the dormancy period which is vital for even growth and survival. Across the board Waterford experienced on average a 30% drop in yield. Berries at harvest time were tiny and highly concentrated in flavour, and due to relatively cool and dry summer weather, the wines also ended up with low alcohols and softer acidities.
