2013 Section 94 Sauvignon Blanc
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Tasting notes
Sauvignon Blanc from a specific parcel within the Dog Point vineyard. Section 94 started with the 2002 vintage. 2,000 cases made and they deliberately don't put Sauvignon Blanc on the label because the wine tastes so different from the usual Marlborough SB. Up to 2010 the viticulture was quite conventional and they saw lots of floral notes early on but this changed. They converted to organic certification in 2012. Matt Sutherland: '2011–2016 we understood what Marlborough's battle with powdery mildew [and all the necessary spraying] was doing [accentuating reduction].' They held all of vintage 2011 back because of its marked reduction. '2012 was a cool year so there was less reduction because the disease pressure was not there. Then it came back in 2013. Solids in fermentation accentuates this. From 2017 the style has gone back to the early days.' Very pale. Struck-match nose. Good presence in the mouth. Still lively. Definitely Sauvignon Blanc but creamy texture. Very much a vineyard expression and the Southerland family love to drink it so they keep it in this almost aggressively struck-match, flinty style though they are seeking more of the original floral character, too. (JR)
Critic scores
Average Score
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
Super-reductive aroma that is struck flint and charry oak but also do to with the origin, not just winemaking style, I believe. Underneath all the struck match is intense greengage fruit and bitter orange. Deep, long and intense with fabulous herbal/citrus purity. Stunning and so much ageing potential. Reverberant and endless. This may be an alternative style of NZ Sauvignon that you need to grow into but for me it is absolutely one of the best and most exciting wines made in Marlborough. (JH)
(14% alcohol; barrel-fermented and -aged, with lees stirring but no malolactic fermentation): Bright, pale yellow. Flinty, sulfidey reduction to the aromas of citrus, yellow fruits and smoky minerals. Large-scaled and rich, with sexy oak-driven sweetness to the deep flavors of yellow fruits, fresh herbs, minerals and spices. A very round big boy, with well-judged oak, harmonious acidity and excellent slowly building tactile length. This bottling is routinely one of the best barrel-aged Sauvignons from Marlborough.
When I first poured this it was almost defensively reduced – warning the drinker to stay away. After 15 minutes in the glass, it is still pretty reductive but not in a struck-match Chardonnay sort of way but more in an intensely smoky quality – almost rubbery but that makes it sound negative when it isn’t. Still has rich intense fruit – orange and wild grasses but not in the least green. This is one of the hardest wines I have tried to describe in a long time. Full-bodied with intense ripeness but no sweetness, just lots of what the French call gras . Needs more time and/or food. Day 2: the Coche Dury of Sauvignon Blanc? though the herbal flavour on the palate takes you away from Chardonnay. More flinty/mineral than struck match. Day 3: still very flinty but boxtree showing more now. A wine that needs to be decanted? (JH)