Blank Canvas
Abstract | Three Rows Sauvignon Blanc 2020 1.5l

RARE MAGNUM: 12 ONLY

ACCOLADES

95 Points - Top Wines of NZ 2023 List "Distinctive, complex, youthful, layered and intriguing bouquet. Aromas of white peach and soft-curve grapefruit pith, white fleshed orchard fruits, a distinctive lees complexity and a whisper of bottle ageing create a harmonious and alluring bouquet. There’s a touch of sage too. On the palate a delicious wine with synergies of texture and flavour, grapefruit and lees, white flowers and black currant, other flavours from barrel ageing and a purity of fruit all build up to a wine of complexity and subtle bottle-development. A wine to watch, a modern expression with a lengthy and intriguing finish. Best drinking from late 2023 through 2029. Outstanding. Cameron Douglas MS

***** 5 STARS "Designed as an ageworthy 'Savoury Blanc', the distinctive, weighty 2020 vintage (5*) was hand-picked in the Holdaway Vineyard, at Dillons Point, and fermented and matured on its yeast lees for 15 months in seasoned French oak puncheons. Bright, light yellow/green, it is full-bodied and complex, with strong, energetic, tropical fruit flavours, a subtle oak influence, balanced acidity and a long, dry finish. Best drinking mid-2024+." Michael Cooper

94 Points - This wine is as much about texture as it is about taste. Bone-dry and mouth-filling with peppery phenolics that offer support while pushing a lingering finish. Quite Sancerre-like with a savoury, stemmy character. Good food wine 27 SEP 2023 Bob Campbell MW 

17 Points (Top Equal Scoring 2020 NZ Sauvignon Blanc) "Intense aromas of Sauvignon Blanc with some reduction: smoky, mineral/flinty, struck match and complex but with no lack of fruit – mostly blackcurrant, fruit and leaf, grapefruit, but also clementine, plus a suggestion of lapsang tea. Full in the mouth, all that lovely smoky flintiness. Firmly textured, deep, immensely fresh and very long. A classic in this style with fruit sweetness on the finish. The effects of reduction fade back to a certain extent on the day after opening to show more fruit. Salty/smoky/flinty aftertaste. Seems to be ageing very slowly, rather like a ripe Bordeaux white than classic NZ Sauvignon. I wonder what a percentage of Sémillon might add? (JH)" Julia Harding MW | JancisRobinson.com April 2024

94 Points - "The 2020 Sauvignon Blanc Abstract Three Rows has a lot to live up to after making quite the impression in 2019. It has certainly not taken a shy and retiring approach. This puncheon-fermented, dry-farmed cuvée is aged on lees for a lengthy 15 months, resulting in a wine that is intense, aromatic and structured. Punchy blackcurrant, nectarine, lemon and almond meal flavors combine with a green-toned edge. While its component parts don't feel united as yet – there's a lot going on here and the fruit seems more overt in this vintage – there's a sense that this will outlive the already-mellowing 2019, such is its youth and force. The 2020 is impressive but a little edgy right now. Rebecca Gibb MW - Vinous April 2024