Lawson's Dry Hills Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2023

Reviews and Accolades

Cameron Douglas MS: 94/100.  An attractive bouquet and palate with complexity, varietal highlights and gravitas in its complexity. A lovely wine with flavours of fleshy tropical fruits and white peach, a layer of citrus and sweet basil. The use of some time of lees has layered in spice and mouthfeel as well as complexity and length on the finish. Well made with a backbone of acidity and fruit concentration. Best drinking from day of purchase through 2028.

New Zealand International Wine Show 2024: Gold.

New Zealand International Wine Show 2023: Silver.

Global Sauvignon Blanc Masters 2023: Silver. 

Decanter World Wine Awards 2024: Silver & 92/100. Perfumed nose of passion fruit, elderflower, and some blackcurrant leaf. Fresh and lively palate with excellent intensity and refreshing acidity.

James Suckling (JamesSuckling.com): 90/100. Some bitter lemon and sliced papaya character follow through to a medium body, creamy texture and straightforward finish. Drink now.

Cuisine Magazine: 5 stars & second out of 128 wines. A complex nose showing guava, feijoa and chamomile notes with lemon-lime citrus. The palate is precise and long with great concentration and texture. Crunchy white pear and ripe peach flavours unfurl on the palate which is fresh, crisp, summery and moreish.

Tasting Note

This wine has amazing aromatics of passionfruit, ripe capsicum, green apple, lemon and peach notes. Packed with concentrated flavours, the palate is bright and wonderfully textured with a balance of fresh acidity and a chalky, lingering finish.

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Grape varial: Sauvignon Blanc

Food match: Shellfish (especially oysters)! Or any seafood that is simply prepared with just a squeeze of lemon and hint of seasoning. Also delicious with spicy foods, goat's cheese, salads, asparagus and other vegetables. It also provides a lovely contrast to richer foods such as patés, terrines and parfaits.

Vineyards: The grapes selected for this wine came from two vineyards: 70% Awatere Valley and 30% Wairau Valley.

Winemaking: Managed crops from just two and three cane pruned vines give the winery intense aromatics and flavour. Each block was picked when the team felt they reached maximum passionfruit characters and while the acidity was still bright and crisp. The grapes were gently pressed before being fermented in stainless steel tanks with selected cultured yeast and 10% was fermented with wild yeast in old French barriques. This wine is a blend of tanks that we felt stood out for aromatic intensity and concentration on the palate.

Alcohol: 13% vol

Residual sugar: 4.5 g/l

Total acidity: 6.4 g/l

Bottle size: 0.75l

Vegan: yes

Notice: contains sulphites.

Cellaring potential: until 2027+

Closure: Screwcap

Produced and bottled by: Lawson's Dry Hills Wines Limited, PO Box 4020, Redwood Village, Blenheim 7242, New Zealand

Distributor: vinabonus GmbH, Simmedenweg 40, 34134 Kassel, Germany

Can't get enough of Sauvignon Blanc? Here is our Sauvignon Blanc assortment.