Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc '23

The wines of Dog Point Vineyard stand out among the sea of bottlings of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc for their quality and complexity. The project is a collaboration between two Cloudy Bay alumni, the enologist James Healy and the founding viticulturalist Ivan Sutherland. The first vintage of Dog Point wine they released was the 2002, and they left Cloudy Bay at the end of 2003. The name Dog Point refers to the earliest European settlement of Marlborough and the introduction of sheep to the district. Shepherds’ dogs sometimes got lost or wandered off and eventually bred into a wild pack. Their home was a hill covered with tussock and scrub, overlooking the Wairau Plains, designated by early settlers as Dog Point. Dog Point practices organic viticulture.
 
The wines are made from estate fruit grown on some of the oldest vines and best sites in Marlborough, with some plantings dating back to the 1970s. Yields are low, and the grapes are manually harvested, a rarity considering that about 95% of fruit in this region is harvested by machine. 
 
The grapes for the Sauvignon Blac undergo whole bunch pressing before cold settling, then fermentation. About 60% of the wine was fermented with indigenous yeasts. The wine was aged for four months in stainless steel tanks, then bottled without fining.