Elgin Highlands Sauvignon Blanc 2025 displays beautiful purity of limes and ripe gooseberry, with tropical, floral and fine herbal notes, ruby grapefruit and white pear drop on the finish. This is cool climate Sauvignon Blanc – vibrant, mineral, elegant, balanced and delicate, with a long, layered and complex finish.
Elgin Highlands
2025 Elgin Highlands Sauvignon Blanc
R214.00
The 2025 cool climate Elgin Highlands Sauvignon Blanc is vibrant, mineral, elegant, balanced and delicate, with a long, layered and complex finish.
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Description
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Accolades
Accolades
MIGUEL CHAN [ 94/100 ]
“Classic Elgin Highlands expression of variety: bone-dryness, rapier acid, grass, blackcurrant and leaf pungency, extraordinary length. 2024 lifts the bar with well-judged richness and texture from lees and splash sémillon (absent from sibling), near-perfect balance.”
PLATTER’S WINE GUIDE [ 4½ stars – 94/100 ]
“With a 7 percent portion of Sémillon, the 2020 is wild fermented in second and third fill 500 litre barrels and offers aromatics of green apple, white pear, lemon grass and a hint of capsicum peppers. The wine is mellow and fine tuned, beautifully integrated and fresh with crystalline purity, bright acids and a complex, pithy, stony mineral finish. Drinking very well now with an overt, harmonious finesse.”
GREG SHERWOOD, MW [ 92/100 ]
TIM ATKIN MW 2023 SOUTH AFRICA SPECIAL REPORT [ 92/100 ]
2024 FNB Sauvignon Blanc SA Top 10
BEST VALUE WHITE TROPHY, THE WINE MERCHANT MAGAZINE’S TOP 100 WINES
PREVIOUS VINTAGES
“Very fine and fresh and sleek. Dry and super appetising. A very fair price. Much more interesting than most Marlborough examples.”
JANCIS ROBINSON, MW [ 17/20 ] -
Technical Details
Technical Details
ALCOHOL 13.2% RESIDUAL SUGAR 1.8 g/l TOTAL ACIDITY 7.3 g/l PH 3.1 -
Winemaking
Winemaking
We aim for elegance, balance and to express the unique terroir of the Elgin Highlands. Grapes were hand-picked into crates early in the morning to ensure that the grapes stayed cool. Each of the 9 blocks are harvested and vinified separately.
After gentle pressing, the must was settled, maintaining a temperature of 6-8°C. Fermentation occurred at 14-16°C, using different commercial yeast strains particularly suited to Sauvignon Blanc. The wine was kept on the gross lees for 5 months and stirred regu- larly to enhance the richness of the mid-palate.
The 5% Sémillon component was fermented naturally in 2nd and 3rd fill 500L French oak barrels to enhance the mid palate weight and to add complexity to the wine. A selection of different Sauvignon Blanc vineyard sites were naturally fermented in 500L French oak barrels. The barrel fermentation component made up 6% of the final blend.
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Vintage Notes
Vintage Notes
The 2025 season was characterised by above average winter rainfall and very cold winter temperatures and warmer, drier conditions which persisted from September right up to March. The winter months of June, July, August 2024 provided us with good rainfall, low average daytime temperatures and cold average minimum temperatures which pushed our vines into deep dormancy.
Spring got off to a cold and wet start and these conditions led to budbreak being up to 2 weeks later than previous years. The remainder of the growing phase from October to December 2024 was drier than normal and was characterised by unusual Easterly winds, which tends to bring warmer, drier conditions. The late flowering was aided by the warmer weather, with windy conditions resulting in smaller bunches and berries.
January and February were warm and dry, but daytime and nighttime temperatures were lower than the previous year, which is perfect for the ripening of our grapes. The quality of the grapes that arrived at the cellar were exceptional. Smaller bunches and berries contributed to wines with lovely flavour and concentration and the resulting wines are showing beautiful expressive fruit, with lovely fruit concentration and bright acidities, giving the wines great vibrancy and tension.
