The 2023 Sauvignon Blanc is light in body but dense in concentration because of low yields. It`s almost silvery in color and restrained due to hand-picking, leading to pure grapefruit, passion fruit and nectarine, all delivered with plenty of focus and punch. The finish is long, precise and sinewy. 93 points

Full screwcapped bottle 1,310 g. 26-year-old vines in the Wairau Valley, though some vines were planted in 1984. Silty clay loams with some gravel. Hand-picked and whole-bunch pressing of fruit prior to cold settling then fermentation. 60% of this wine is fermented with indigenous yeasts. The wine is aged for 4 months in stainless-steel tanks then bottled without fining. TA 7.4 g/l, pH 3.14. Intensely aromatic and characteristically smoky, with marked reduction, a style that Dog Point have mastered so brilliantly. That smokiness is notable yet not excessive even if it is highly stylised. Behind the struck match is vibrant grapefruit and pear, immense depth and remarkable complexity for a young, unoaked white. Chewy texture and low pH make this a mouth-watering and persistent dry wine that is obviously Sauvignon Blanc but not just Sauvignon Blanc, and with better likely ageing capacity than most NZ SBs. Excellent purity and precision. I find this unspittable and feel sure it will be even better after another year in bottle. 17.5 points