Leeuwin Art Series Sauvignon Blanc 2023

I have to say I think this is the best Art Series savvy yet released. It combines the beautiful aromatic nuances evident immediately with a beautifully crafted textural palate. The palate is sublime with its rich intensity and centration of fruit lifted and revealed with a minerally acidity. That texture comes from 30% barrel fermentation in one-year-old French oak barriques and then four months fermentation in barrels. The blend of these with some tank fermented components has created an ideal expression of this variety.

The 2023 Art Series Sauvignon Blanc leads with gooseberry, kiwi fruit, green apple, cassis (something jubey), white strawberry and juniper. In the mouth, the wine is concentrated, saline, textured and long. This is routinely an impressive wine, as it offers elegant drinking in the future as well as today. 2023 was a superb (I repeat, superb) vintage in Margaret River, and this is testament to the restraint of the season that birthed it. Lovely.

The slip of texture, creaminess and nuttiness comes from its four months in used French oak barriques plus regular lees stirring. Add to that grapefruit/lemon/lime juice, fresh herbs and passionfruit too… well, it amounts to a lovely drink. Great with food or on its own.

Good mid-weighted sauvignon that is not afraid to bare depth, intensity of flavor and texture. Good. Aromas of lemon balm, curry leaf and green and yellow plum, with a spurt of greengage across a persuasive finish that is brisk, sure, but also attractively oily and savory. Drink or hold.