Dog Point Section 94 Sauvignon Blanc 2021 - Re-Release

Reviews

Shanteh Wale, Halliday Wine Companion: 96/100. This is a wine that consistently delivers, while ageing at a glacial rate, almost beyond belief. At five years, this is showing Meyer lemon, cantaloupe and Alphonse mango skin. Mock orange blossoms, honeysuckle and struck sandstone flint. The palate curls into creamy candlenut and oatmeal, then circles back to its citrus and tropical fruit core. It's languid and slightly oily, persistent and long. A wine for rewiring your brain and taste buds on what great sauvignon can do.

Erin Larkin, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: 95/100.The 2021 Section 94, matured in French oak barrels, typically packs a more overt punch than the estate Sauvignon Blanc tasted alongside. Here, the wine is complex and nuanced, with layers of crushed and salted nuts, curry leaf, saline acidity and edamame. This is a very, very good wine.

Cameron Douglas MS: 95/100 & Top NZ Wine Selection 2025.  I last tasted this wine [formally] back in October 2021, it was then and is still today a fantastic wine. A complete wine with a fine balance and complexity between the ripeness of fruit framed by the use of lees and judicious use of oak for fermenting and some ageing. Flavours of cape gooseberry and orange melon, some peach and dried herb qualities. Delicious, still fresh and lengthy. Best drinking from da of purchase through 2030+.

James Suckling (JamesSuckling.com): 95/100 & Top 100 Wines from New Zealand 2022. This is a beautiful and complex wine with sliced apples, lemons, bread dough and salted pie crust. Some grass. Always subtle and complex yet shows intensity. Medium body. Lovely acid balance and an excellent finish. White pepper. Dry. Always excellent. Drink now.

Tasting Note

Pale straw in colour. Gravels, smoke and flint wash over a ripe grapefruit and citrus spectrum of fruit characters. Orange blossom and daphne also complement the citrus core, along with toast and oatmeal characters from the long elevage in barrel. Powerful and intensely flavoured, bursting with fresh grapefruit. A breadth of textures build on the midpalate, with grapefruit pith and a rich creaminess from lees aging. The wine's taut structure cleanses the palate and carries flavours to the long finish.

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Wine type: White wine

Grape varial: 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Alcohol: 14.0 % vol

Total acidity: 8.1 g/l

Food match:  Match with herb-marinated poultry and pork dishes. Fish (especially salmon), poultry, vegetable dishes and soft white cheeses.

Vineyard: Section 94, Home Marlborough Vineyard, New Zealand. 29 year old vines.

Winemaking: Hand picked and whole bunch pressed to tank for 24 hours of settling prior to eighteen months fermentation and aging in mostly older French Oak barrels. 100% natural ferment. Bottled without fining and only minimal filtration.

Vintage 2021: A cool and frosty start to the growing season and flowering period naturally reduced yields to our lowest levels in over 20 years. November's rain was welcomed prior to the driest summer on record with only 66mm (50% lower than average) over this period. Temperatures were warm, only slightly above average, which enabled a smooth, steady growing season with little disease pressure. The low yields resulted in the earliest harvest for Dog Point, picking all the Sauvignon including Section 94 before the end of March.

Wine style: dry

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulfites

Cellaring potential: 2030

Closure: Screwcap

Produced and bottled by: Dog Point Vineyards Ltd, PO Box 52, Renwick, Marlborough, New Zealand