Nose
The bouquet has an alluring musk, cantaloupe and peach perfume followed again by lemon
curd. Multi layered and complex the nose reveals gunsmoke and savoury battonage characters
with a rich aromatic intensity
Palate
The palate has a beautiful spring water minerality, it is supple and showing fine phenolics – a
result of the hand-picked fruit. Bright jasmine flowers and luscious flavours of rambutan and
orange blossom are carried by a fresh acidity, the finish is long and this wine is built to age.
The pristine palate reflects this vineyard’s southern aspect showing precision and poise.
Growing Conditions
Reasonable winter rains led into favourable spring conditions with an absence of the violent
wet weather that can reduce fruitfulness. Summer was, again, long and mild, with very few
heat spikes and little rain. The marri trees had fantastic blossom (the best since 1994), that
lingered on and reduced bird pressure facilitating even ripening. As such, all grapes could be
picked with no disease and at perfect ripeness. The more southern aspect of the vineyard in
addition to the Hardy Inlet and West Bay influence resulted in less diurnal variation in
temperature which meant the natural acidity and varietal character of the grapes was retained.
Harvest timing was slightly earlier than normal and the whites wines have good depth of
flavour and great finesse.
Bottling
Golden straw with a hint of lime.
Winemaking
All blocks used to make the Suckfizzle Sauvignon Blanc Semillon are hand-picked and vinified
separately. The Baumé range for the Sauvignon Blanc is 12.5° Bé to 13.0° Bé and the Semillon
12.0° Bé to 12.5° Bé. After cooling overnight, the grapes are whole fruit pressed. The free run
juice is lightly settled then transferred to barrel for fermentation in 100% new French oak
barriques. At the end of the primary fermentation, the percentage of new oak is reduced to
50% for the barrel maturation phase. In December of the vintage year the component wines
are racked off gross lees and blended, on the basis of quality and style. The blend is always
Sauvignon Blanc dominant. Further barrel maturation continues until July of the following
year.
