Casas del Bosque Pequeñas Producciones Sauvignon Blanc 2015

A richly textured, more overtly gastronomic style of Sauvignon. Heady notes of ginger, white pepper and grapefruit dominate on the nose. In the mouth a layered flavour profile kicks-off with an attack of nectarine and white peach leading to a smokey, mineral finish with just a hint of rock salt.
94 pts Descorchados
92 pts Vinous (JR)
(fermented in stainless steel tanks and then raised in neutral French oak barrels, with no battonage) Limpid straw. Deep-pitched orange pith, pear nectar and chamomile scents take on succulent herbal and floral notes in the glass. Concentrated and chewy in texture, offering bitter pear skin, tangerine and fennel flavors that are lifted and sharpened by a core of juicy acidity. Smoothly plays power off finesse and finishes very long and sappy, leaving a sexy floral note behind.
92 pts James Suckling 10/29/15
90 pts Wine AdvocateThe 2015 Sauvignon Blanc Pequeñas Producciones is sourced from a small plot where the soils are granite-based and are mixed with red clay. The grapes underwent an eight-day cold soak and 100% of the wine fermented in oak barrels, but the wine is equally bottled after two months. There is more austerity here, more subtle aromas, freshness and possibly minerality. The palate is quite balanced with good acidity, pungent flavors and more intensity than the other two Sauvignons. Better with food. According to winemaker Grant Phelps, this wine peaks at three to five years old. 8,100 bottles were filled in July 2015.
All fruit was harvested from our own vineyard – located within the coolest, westernmost reaches of the Casablanca Valley. Sourced from a mixture of two clones (88% clone 242 from the “Cantera” and 12% clone 107 from the “Trampa” blocks) from hillsides plantings on 110 million year old decomposed granites with a thin topsoil of red volcanic clay. The blocks used in this blend were cropped at an average of 4.5 tonnes per hectare (1.8 tons per acre). Harvest was carried nocturnally in April, 2015. On arrival at the winery all grapes were first destemmed and crushed to stainless steel tanks (via a chiller in order to drop the temperature to between 0 and -2°C or 28-32ºF) where they were then left to cold soak for 185 hours (8 days). Following this time the free-run juice was drained by gravity from the tanks. The remaining skins and juice were then dug-out and gently squeezed using pneumatic presses in order to separate light from hard pressings. The resulting juices were then left to cold settle (at 10ºC/50ºF) for 4 days following which time 97% of the blend was racked to 2nd and 3rd use French oak barrels and fermented with selected yeasts (with temperatures peaking at 18ºC or 65ºF). The remaining 3% of the blend was racked to stainless steel tanks, inoculated with selected yeasts and ultra-cool fermented (reaching temperatures as low as 6.5ºC/44ºF at the peak of the fermentation). After the completion of fermentation the wines were left on gross lees for three weeks (without stirring) before being blended, cold stabilised, filtered and bottled.