Welbedacht Wine Estate Wellington Sauvignon Blanc 2010 81 points

Welbedacht Wine Estate Wellington Sauvignon Blanc 2010 81 points

Clear,day bright, pale straw with slight green tinge, medium concentration & viscosity, no sediment, but evidence of CO2.

Clean, medium plus intensity with notes of just ripe pears, white grapefruit, green peach, citrus zest and kiwi with subtle hints of river bed minerality, un oaked.

Dry to off dry, medium acidity, medium alcohol, new flavours of fleshy rhubarb, aragula leaf & spicy white pepper, some mid palate structure due to CO2 injection.
Broad palate texture but low plus complexity & lenght, medium finish, 12.5 ABV, drink now at around 10 degrees Celsius, great as an aperitif or lunch time with a plum tomato salad, light peppered balsamic dressing and torn fresh basil leaves, will hold until 2014.

2010 is the first time a Sauvignon Blanc is released under the Welbedacht Wine Estate by Schalk Burger & Sons label, 100 % Wellington / Estate grown fruit

Label of Certified Integrity & Sustainibility by Wine & Spirits board

About Wellington Sauvignon Blanc:

Have yet to prove they can match the aura & complexity of established Sauvignon Blanc regions, districts and wards of the Cape Wine lands, such as Constantia, Cape Point, Durbanville Elgin, Walker Bay, Cederberg, Elim, Cape Agulhas, Groenekloof and greater Darling, Outeniqua, as well as some pocket of Stellenbosch such as Polkadraai Hills, Bottelary, Simonsberg & Jonkershoek valley.

The inland Wellington area is way too hot to preserve the right level of Methoxypyrazines, they get burn off by the growing season heat, hence producing more tropical fruit driven with low to medium acidity rather than the pungent Sauvignon profile of moderate climate with medium to high acidity, of established region above.

Perhaps the Wellington ward is better suited to Chenin Blanc and Viognier as some excellent example have come through over the last few years!

More on the red wine of Wellington in the near future