2017 Geoff Weaver Sauvignon Blanc

Geoff Weaver

Australia / Adelaide Hills / Geoff Weaver

VINTAGE
Crop levels of 3.4kg/vine were slightly up on our long-term average of 2.7kg/vine. After a string of years when our grapes ripened well before our long-term average in 2017 we picked in early April a week later than our long-term average date. Hand picking occurred in cool weather on 3rd to 6th April. Heat degree day summation for the year was 1335; a little over our long-term average of 1270 Heat Degree Days (HDD). We had a cool start in October and November and a warm finish in February and March, the latter period mercifully free of extreme heat. Our vines are now 29 years old and show the benefits of maturity with good balance of crop and leaf plus more stable crops.
The growing season rainfall was 420mm between October and March, which was higher than our long-term average of 230mm. Of this 312mm fell between October and December. Disease pressure was consequently high early in the season but ripe healthy grapes were harvested. We grow our grapes without irrigation and they benefit, I believe, from deep roots sustaining them rather than more shallow ones subject to downpours and dry spells.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
100% single-vineyard Sauvignon blanc from Lenswood, Adelaide Hills. We crush, destem, gently air bag press. Clear settle juice and cold ferment to dryness. No need for additions of acid (which is so common in Australia); our approach is to make the wine as naturally as possible with minimal additions. The fresh aromatics of the fruit are retained and, with gentle air bag pressing, harsh extractives are not generated. Alcohol 12.5%; pH 3.10; TA 7.1g/L as tartaric.
TASTING
Lifted aromas of pear, cut grass and hints of flowers. Fresh, fragrant and complex. Nothing heavy or vegetal. The palate has fresh fruit with a lively, juicy richness and a lingering, fresh acid edge to the finish. Full, long and delicate. This is a lively, tightly structured wine but with a generous, supple mid palate and a fine, long, savoury finish. - Geoff Weaver

August, 2019

James Halliday

Halliday Wine Companion

95 points

The bouquet is precise and strongly varietal, but it's not until the palate that the flavours set sail, and do so in fine style with citrus and apple taking control on the long finish. It's the outcome of Geoff Weaver's undoubted skill as a winemaker (and mature vines).

April, 2019

Mike Bennie

The Wine Front

93 points

Perky white of vivacity and freshness, shows a mix of green herb, saline, green citrus spectrum scents and flavours with a light chalkiness to texture that’s very appealing in the mix. Good length, finesse, and the squeaky, mouth-watering finish seals the deal. Oysters at ten paces.

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About Geoff Weaver

Geoff Weaver has journeyed from the big end of town to a tiny, intimate pocket of the Adelaide Hills. Back in 1988 he was appointed chief winemaker for the Hardy group of companies, where he oversaw winemaking for around 10% of Australia's grapes. In 1992 he made the break from corporate winemaking to pursue his own dream on the Lenswood vineyard that he and wife Judith had started planting a decade earlier. Those vines, some of the oldest in the Hills, are really reaping the rewards of maturity. Geoff is clearly one of Australia's elite white winemakers. His is one of Australia's best and longest-lived Chardonnays and the oft-overlooked Riesling is beautifully aromatic and mineral. Add to this a Sauvignon Blanc that can only be described as immaculate, while the wild yeast, partial barrel-fermented, oak-aged Ferus Sauvignon Blanc is a gorgeous example of this style. Against a tidal wave of Sauvignons from ‘across the ditch’, it’s comforting to know that there’s one from this particular island that can hold a torch to any of them.

About

Geoff has been involved in the wine industry since he joined Orlando in 1972. Geoff progressed to the position of white winemaker for Thomas Hardy and Sons in 1975, where he was responsible for the vintages at Siegersdorf in the Barossa and at Waikerie and Padthaway. In 1988 Geoff was appointed chief winemaker for the Hardy group of companies overseeing winemaking of around 10% of Australia’s grapes.
Even then, Geoff recognised that the future of Australian wine depended on the quality of the vineyard, so he and wife Judith embarked on a project to grow the best possible fruit in a new state-of-the-art site at Lenswood. This was a pioneering venture into an untried region. They planted the vineyard at Lenswood in 1982 and have steadily developed it to its current 11 hectares.
In 1992 Geoff made the break from corporate winemaking and left to pursue his winemaking dreams at Lenswood full time. In doing so his responsibility went from 120,000 tonnes of fruit at Hardy’s to 70 tonnes from Lenswood.