Fairbourne Estate is the Sauvignon Blanc-focussed wine venture of Marlborough wine industry veterans Russell Hooper and Sarah Inkersell. Their knowledge of the Marlborough region and sub-regions led them to make their Fairbourne Sauvignon Blanc from the north-facing hillside clay-gravel soiled vineyards in the Southern Valleys, to capture the unique character of this area. There has been one vineyard that has provided the backbone for the wine, the fruit employed for the inaugural vintage in 2009, and all others since. Other fruit sources can be used to provide the balance that winemaker Sarah believes gives a more complete wine. As a top-flight Sauvignon Blanc, Russell and Sarah have gone down the path of refinement and elegance in the Loire style, rather than the more often use of complexing inputs especially from high solids, indigenous yeasts, extended lees aging and batonnage with barrel-fermentation and aging. Purity, subtlety and balance are the keys to the Fairbourne style, and previous vintages have demonstrated this amply. Here, I review the new 2017 Fairbourne Sauvignon Blanc, from one of the more challenging Marlborough vintages. It continues the style already achieved, while expressing the growing season. www.fairbourne.co.nz
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