Abstract | Three Rows Sauvignon Blanc 2020 Magnum

Vineyard: Holdaway Vineyard
Subregion: Dillons Point
Region: Marlborough
Vintage: 2020
Soil Type: Young alluvial silts over sand
Clone: Mass selection
Viticulture: Dry-farmed and regeneratively managed - Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand Certified (SWNZ)
Growers: The Holdaway family

Appellation Marlborough Wine Certified.
Winemaker's Notes:

If classic Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is all fruit and zing, Abstract exists in another dimension altogether. It’s our ‘Savoury Blanc’, where texture and aromatic complexity bedazzle, and where vineyard and winemaking contribute equally. Just three rows of a dry-farmed parcel are handpicked from the Holdaway Vineyard in Dillons Point. There’s an intense and seductive perfume of blackcurrant and white florals, while winemaking lends savouriness and flinty minerality. Wild fermented in seasoned French oak puncheons and lees-aged for 15 months, this is a wine rich in texture. With elegance and beautiful balance, it is for enjoyment now but will age with grace and dignity. Reviews:

2020 Vintage:

5 STARS "Designed as an ageworthy 'Savoury Blanc', the distinctive, weighty 2020 vintage (5 ) was hand-picked in the Holdaway Vineyard, at Dillons Point, and fermented and matured on its yeast lees for 15 months in seasoned French oak puncheons. Bright, light yellow/green, it is full-bodied and complex, with strong, energetic, tropical fruit flavours, a subtle oak influence, balanced acidity and a long, dry finish. Best drinking mid-2024." Michael Cooper MA ONZM

95 Points - Top Wines of 2023 List "Distinctive, complex, youthful, layered and intriguing bouquet. Aromas of white peach and soft-curve grapefruit pith, white fleshed orchard fruits, a distinctive lees complexity and a whisper of bottle ageing create a harmonious and alluring bouquet. There’s a touch of sage too. On the palate a delicious wine with synergies of texture and flavour, grapefruit and lees, white flowers and black currant, other flavours from barrel ageing and a purity of fruit all build up to a wine of complexity and subtle bottle-development. A wine to watch, a modern expression with a lengthy and intriguing finish. Best drinking from late 2023 through 2029. Outstanding. Cameron Douglas MS

94 Points - This wine is as much about texture as it is about taste. Bone-dry and mouth-filling with peppery phenolics that offer support while pushing a lingering finish. Quite Sancerre-like with a savoury, stemmy character. Good food wine 27 SEP 2023 Bob Campbell MW

17 Points (Top Equal Scoring 2020 Sauvignon Blanc) - "Intense aromas of Sauvignon Blanc with some reduction: smoky, mineral/flinty, struck match and complex but with no lack of fruit – mostly blackcurrant, fruit and leaf, grapefruit, but also clementine, plus a suggestion of lapsang tea. Full in the mouth, all that lovely smoky flintiness. Firmly textured, deep, immensely fresh and very long. A classic in this style with fruit sweetness on the finish. The effects of reduction fade back to a certain extent on the day after opening to show more fruit. Salty/smoky/flinty aftertaste. Seems to be ageing very slowly, rather like a ripe Bordeaux white than classic Sauvignon. I wonder what a percentage of Sémillon might add? (JH)" Julia Harding MW - JancisRobinson.com April 2024

94 Points - "The 2020 Sauvignon Blanc Abstract Three Rows has a lot to live up to after making quite the impression in 2019. It has certainly not taken a shy and retiring approach. This puncheon-fermented, dry-farmed cuvée is aged on lees for a lengthy 15 months, resulting in a wine that is intense, aromatic and structured. Punchy blackcurrant, nectarine, lemon and almond meal flavors combine with a green-toned edge. While its component parts don't feel united as yet – there's a lot going on here and the fruit seems more overt in this vintage – there's a sense that this will outlive the already-mellowing 2019, such is its youth and force. The 2020 is impressive but a little edgy right now. Rebecca Gibb MW - Vinous April 2024

2019 Vintage:

5 Stars - "The distinctive, delicious, very harmonious 2019 vintage (5 ) was designed to be a 'cellar-worthy' and 'savoury' Sauvignon Blanc. Hand-harvested in the Holdaway Vineyard, at Dillons Point, it was fermented and lees-aged for over a year in seasoned French oak puncheons. Bright, light lemon/green, it is mouthfilling, with fresh, rich, tropical fruit flavours, nutty notes adding complexity, and a finely textured, long finish. Drink now or cellar." Michael Cooper MA ONZM August 2022.

96 Points - Top Sauvignon Blanc "The 2019 Sauvignon Blanc Abstract Three Rows is a pure and sophisticated wine from, true to its name, three rows of a dry farmed parcel. It is bri