I’m writing these notes at 10:20pm in the winery on the 13th of May. The Sowvignon Blanc for 2008 is finished and is being bottled in a week. I have a glass in my hand. It’s bloody fascinating.

The grapes were harvested off an older vineyard down the road and immediately driven up to the winery. The grapes were crushed, chilled and the free run juice only was put into tank for fermentation. Two thirds of the way through the ferment the wine was transferred into old French oak barrels where it finished ferment and was then aged in barrel on lees for 3 months.

The wine has nothing in common with Sauvignon Blanc. It’s got a bit of colour about it. It smells like pink musk on the nose, a character I normally associate with wines from Alsace. I don’t know how it got in there. The palate is rich and textured, savoury rather than the new world fruit bombs that people assume is all that winemakers can do with this variety.

This is a bloody serious wine, make no mistake, and one to try with cooked seafood dishes over the short to medium term.