Keira O’Brien’s Rivulet Wines are growing in maturity as she grows with her solo winemaking. Fruit for this coming from St. Helens, high on the East Coast of Tasmania. The name Verdure comes from the “word used by Tasmania’s early explorers to describe the beauty of the landscape they were discovering.” Keira is actively hunting texture in the wine: “Destemmed and oxidatively handled at pressing. Partial solids ferment in old French oak puncheons with complete malolactic fermentation. Six months in oak on lees with occasional stirring.”

Rivulet Wines, Verdure, Sauvignon Blanc, Tasmania, 2021

Pale straw/lemon colour. Identifiable gooseberry and campfire ash, wet leaves, native lime citrus, grilled pineapple heart and funky leesy soft doughy complexity. Dry, steely, austere and tense. Crackling textural layer upon layer that builds to an imposing, intense finish. Very good.

RRP: $32
Alc: 12.8%
Rating: 18.75/20 (94/100)

Wine sample courtesy of Rivulet Wines