Nose
The nose shows fragrant lychee, lime, lemongrass and stone fruit. The lychee notes and white nectarine provide a burst of flavour on the palate whilst the grape solids and barrel ferments add complex savoury notes and minerality.
Palate
A nice balance of fruit flavours, fine acidity and
texture are the key attributes of the 2019 vintage.
Growing Conditions
The 2019 growing season began with a late budburst after a relatively cold winter. The cool, windy spring that followed resulted in some uneven flowering and fruit set. We experienced a significant rain event mid January that caused some disease pressure before fine but mild
weather got vintage underway. There was a complete lack of Marri blossom leading up to and during harvest which meant that bird pressure was extreme and bird-netting was absolutely vital this season.
Whilst 2019 was certainly a challenging vintage across the region, Flametree was able to produce some very impressive wines (whites in particular), given the additional efforts and attention to detail in its vineyards .
Harvest
For the 2019 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon we blended fruit from two sub- regions; Karridale and Wallcliffe. These vineyards, in the cooler southern part of Margaret River, have a history of producing fine, fruit driven, aromatic Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon blends. The soils in these vineyards are predominately gravel over clay/loam. These soils hold moisture well and drip irrigation is only used if the season has prolonged hot spells
Winemaking
Individual harvests were crushed, chilled and pressed into tank for a 3 -4 day settling. All batches were then racked and warmed before either going into barrel to undergo wild ferment or inoculated using selected yeast strains. 43% of the juice was wild fermented with grape solids, and 5% of the barrel ferments were with new oak with the remainder being older, large format oak. A small portion of whole berries were added to the ferment to give further texture and complexity to the final blend.
Food Pairing
This wine will drink well over the warmer months with or without food and provide some short term reward for cellaring up to 2 -3 years
