2018 Port Phillip Estate Sauvignon Blanc, Mornington Peninsula

If you are one of those that finds Sauvignon Blanc challenging, your faith in the variety might just be restored by this example. Exotically complex with hints of pawpaw, guava, grapefruit, jalapeno and dill. It’s fermented in old French barrels with natural yeasts, and with several months on lees, has both a creamy element and a passionfruit skin pithiness, with great acidity. Pretty serious stuff!

This has been on an excellent run of form and it continues here. It’s all about power, and texture. Once you have the power, you build the texture. Tropical fruit, passionfruit, guava, lemongrass, even grapefruit; all such flavours blink through the palate. It also has a gravelly, smoky edge, which is entirely a positive. This wine saw some old wood, and it did it some good. Excellent white wine.