2021 Salt River Sauvignon, Savage

Country: South Africa

Region: Western Cape

Type: White

Producer: Duncan Savage

Grape: Sauvignon Blanc

Bottle Size: 75cl

Vintage: 2021

Alcohol: 13.5%

Named for the trendy area of Cape Town that Savage Wines calls home, it drinks more like a Pouilly Fume than a Marlborough Sauvignon, with a real lushness to the palate, flavours of yellow plums, semi-dried pineapple, moringa flowers, a tiny hint of reduction and this amazing intense tanginess. Think sun-ripened yellow peppers blended up, with grapefruit pith and the faintest hint of blackcurrant. Terrific body and stunningly long in the mouth, it’s tasting great now, and we’re sure it will age with grace too.

Vegan, Low Sulfur

The 2021 Salt River combines fruit from a 32 year old bushvine vineyard in Stellenbosch and another coastal site in Walker Bay. Duncan Savage is the most awarded winemaker in South Africa for the Sauvignon Blanc (and Semillon) variety.  He’s also regarded by peers as the best there is with the grape. Even Eben Sadie shares this view.  He learned from the legend, Didier Dagueneau, who took Pouilly-Fume to new heights, and honed his techniques at Cape Point, for whom he made Platter 5-star wine after Platter five-star wine, and which he left in 2016 to concentrate on his own range, Savage Wines. They are now one of the most sought after wines in South Africa.