{"product_id":"barkers-marque-arona-sauvignon-blanc-2021-750ml","title":"Barker's Marque - Arona Sauvignon Blanc 2025 (750ml)","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTasting Vintage 2025\u003cbr\u003eRich, intense, deep and lush spicey stone fruit is all over this nose, along with a less obvious slightly edgy, wet stone minerality.\u003cbr\u003eThere is a touch of key lime, or ripe lemons and the spice is causing the suggestion of key lime. Tropical in the form of pineapple\u003cbr\u003ecore, and with a slightly creamy smokiness. This is a nose packed with layer upon layer of aromatic complexity, which we have\u003cbr\u003ebecome so used to from this wine.\u003cbr\u003eThe same full-bodied texture and density leads the way, with the balance provided by a bright super ripe citrus juiciness. The\u003cbr\u003eArona nose is there, benchmark smokey minerality and pithy texture (we don’t talk enough about the importance of phenolics in\u003cbr\u003eSauvignon) and that’s before we even get to the fruit, which is stone fruit and pineapple with a backbone of lemon and lime. Add\u003cbr\u003ea little spiciness that comes to fore on the long finish and our tasting is complete. Classic Arona.\u003cbr\u003eThe Vineyards\u003cbr\u003eWell, having flip-flopped from wet to dry winters over the last couple of years, we finally had one that might be considered\u003cbr\u003e“normal”. This normalcy was, however, offset by some excitement on the frost front, with a very unusual event occurring in late\u003cbr\u003eOctober, when spring was in full swing. There appeared to be no frost risk, and another cool spring morning was expected, but we\u003cbr\u003ewere in for something of a shock. Temperatures did not get to zero, there was no frost on the ground at all, yet in a small hollow\u003cbr\u003eof Waverley, a frost occurred in the canopy, writing off an acre of fruit. This has never happened before, and we surely hope it\u003cbr\u003enever happens again. From then on, right up to harvest, we had a very solid growing season. Flowering and fruit set were solid\u003cbr\u003ewithout being spectacular and the lead up to harvest was the perfect mix of warm early autumn days, with cool evenings and\u003cbr\u003emornings, allowing those classic Blind River flavors to slowly build in the fruit.\u003cbr\u003eWinemaker Notes\u003cbr\u003eThis year, the character that we’re looking for in fruit destined for Arona was there a little earlier than usual in the vines\u003cbr\u003eripening process, which means the wines are slightly lower in alcohol than in recent years. The almost perfect weather\u003cbr\u003eleading up to harvest meant that picking decisions were made exclusively on tasting and analyzing the fruit (with no\u003cbr\u003eexternal factors, such as weather or logistics having an impact) and resulted in our usual, hands-off approach being a\u003cbr\u003epplied without any stress. Whilst we are constantly looking at ways of making our wines better, we are not trying to\u003cbr\u003ecompletely re-invent the winemaking wheel, so the clean ripe fruit from this year was treated with the usual attention\u003cbr\u003eto detail, without interfering with the process. No winemaking wizardry required here, just being gentle with the fruit\u003cbr\u003eand allowing it to shine through in the wine. Nothing added, nothing taken away, just an expression of the fruit.\u003cbr\u003eFood Pairing\u003cbr\u003eMatches well to spicy food. Thai, Japanese, Indian—but works equally well with seafood, particularly\u003cbr\u003eoysters, and fat cheeses.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Barker's Marque","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42975536808160,"sku":"100755","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0649\/9713\/0464\/files\/barker-s-marque-arona-sauvignon-blanc_1.jpg?v=1746212219","url":"https:\/\/www.mywineconnection.com\/products\/barkers-marque-arona-sauvignon-blanc-2021-750ml","provider":"My Wine Connection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}