2018 Clyde Park Estate Fume Blanc

The Estate Fumé Blanc is a new wine for Clyde Park. Sauvignon Blanc picked from the Bordeaux clone F14V9, it is given 18 hours skin contact with stalks before being pressed straight to 100% oak with 25% new French oak. Natural ferment on full solids occurs and then aged for 6 months before blending and bottling. This is a new expression of Sauvignon, showing more citrus peel and grapefruit pith but a beautiful underlying complexity from the lees and oak aging.

Bright straw colour with a touch of green to the edges and a watery hue. Herbaceous asparagus like scents mix with ripe gooseberry, citrus, grassy characters, light cedar and dried herbs. Texturally full and round yet finishing with a burst of citrus freshness, lying in between are flavours of herbaceous gooseberries, grassy asparagus characters, light honeysuckle and cedary lees like elements. Dry medium length conclusion laced with smoky dried herbs.
Drink over the next 1-2 years.
Alc. 13%

Other Reviews....
24 hours skin contact was followed by a direct pressing to French wood (25% new) and an ambient yeast fermentation. The wine was then left on lees for 7 months, imparting textural mettle and tension. This is pungent, too, but more subdued across a belly of herbal references, unleashing immense power and precision across a long finish doused with lemon drop and curd. This will age and age well.
95 points
Ned Goodwin - James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion