2024 Howard Park Blackwood Valley Sauvignon Blanc, Margaret River

Here is a Sauvignon Blanc that’s been subtly augmented with oak to add complexity and texture into a variety that often exudes simplicity. So, in doing this, you have created an altogether different wine. Into the mix goes some small batches that were handpicked, whole bunch pressed and then fermented in oak. So the result is a wine of excellent and complex fruit intensity, but with layers created by that complexing oak addition. It’s vibrant and crunchy and loaded with deep, intense fruit flavours. A slightly minerally savory character completes a very tidy wine.

93 points Ray Jordan winepilot.com

It’s pungent and generous at first, and then it settles into a more elegant outfit. It has a glossy texture, ripeness, aromas of green grapefruit, green mango, golden kiwi, honeydew melon, ginger, sweet peas. It’s also dry in flavour, with mouth perfume of toasted banana bread and zingy acidity, sweet almond/amaretti oak and a hint of gunpowder in the finish. There’s a good deal of satisfaction in this wine.

92 points Kasia Sobiesiak winefront.com.au

Howard Park Blackwood Valley Sauvignon Blanc comes from one of the coolest and most expressive corners of Margaret River, the winding Blackwood Valley where morning mists, cold nights and long gentle days preserve aromatics and build piercing natural acidity. The vineyards sit on gravelly loam and ancient ironstone over clay, soils that hold moisture through the dry summer and give the vines just enough stress to concentrate flavour without losing finesse. Howard Park has been farming Margaret River since the 1980s and under the careful stewardship of the Burch family and their long standing winemaking team they have built a reputation for precision, purity and letting site speak rather than chasing overt ripeness or flashy winemaking.

This Sauvignon Blanc is all about clarity and energy. It shows a pale straw colour with a glint of green, then leaps from the glass with lime zest, finger lime, kaffir leaf, snow pea and fresh cut herbs, backed by subtle tropical notes and a mineral edge that comes straight from the Blackwood Valley soils. The palate is tight and racy, driven by citrus and crunchy green apple with a saline line of acidity that keeps everything focused and mouthwatering. There is no heaviness here, just clean lines and vibrant flavour that make it incredibly refreshing yet surprisingly complex. It shines with oysters, kingfish sashimi, goat’s cheese, fresh herbs and spring vegetables, and it also has the structure to age for a few years, developing more lanolin, honeyed citrus and savoury depth with time.