Southern Right Sauvignon Blanc 2023

Southern Right Sauvignon Blanc

Made in a way ensuring the personality of site and soil is not over-ridden by the forceful character of the variety, this wine exhibits the typical Southern Right balance of tight "Old World" minerality and length with hints of "New World” texture and body.

The 2021 is a wine that favours origin expressive individuality, minerality and palate complexity ahead of pure, pungent varietal aroma. A significant percentage of fruit from iron and clay-rich soil has added a textural and structural component and additional overall complexity to this wine.

The Sandstone soils have contributed their typical bright, tensile character and a marked minerality.

Producer

Southern Right is a small Pinotage and Sauvignon blanc specialist located on a strikingly beautiful 448 hectare property in the cool, maritime, Hemel-en-Aarde Valley appellation, just behind the old fishing village of Hermanus. The wines are named after the rare Southern Right whales, which frequent the cool South Atlantic Walker Bay, 3 kilometres from the vineyards.

- Founded by Anthony Hamilton Russell in 1994 to create a separate property for specialising in a more refined style of cooler-climate, clay-grown Pinotage - with the aim of re-defining and energising the then less popular national grape. Another early-ripening grape, Sauvignon blanc, was chosen as the white wine partner, based on its proven affinity for the area.

The property is named after the Southern Right Whales, which frequent Walker Bay (at closest just over 2,000 meters from the property), indicating the strongly maritime growing conditions. Their Sauvignon blanc is a best seller for the area with numerous wine-by-the-glass listings internationally. Simultaneously, their highly allocated Pinotage has converted many to the variety and contributed significantly to the current Pinotage renaissance underway.

Southern Right is well known for its unusually rigorous focus in a New World context. They are celebrating more than 25 years of a single Pinotage and a single Sauvignon blanc. With the “Pinotage Renaissance” well underway locally and internationally, Southern Right Pinotage has become their most sought after wine in many markets.

They have always produced a more restrained, classically styled expression of the grape, in keeping with their iron and clay-rich soils and cooler climate, best suited to this early ripening grape. They have refined this further over the years using un-toasted larger format barrels and neutral oak. Their work with indigenous vineyard yeasts and organic yeasts has resulted in a greater degree of purity and vinosity in the wine.

Southern Right Sauvignon Blanc - Hay Wines