Driftwood Artifacts Fumé Blanc 2024

The name, ‘Fumé Blanc’, was conjured by Robert Mondavi, the legendary Napa winemaker (or possibly someone on his marketing team), for Sauvignon Blanc which has seen a little more influence from the winemakers than we often see, giving the wines an extra level of depth and complexity. The ‘fumé’, suggests a smoky note and we often see that, in this case from wild fermentation in ‘big, toasty barrels’. The colour is a lemon/green, and the wine shows extra intensity and that level of complexity the style demands, but it remains neatly balanced. We have citrus, peaches, apricot, passionfruit, evidence of oak still integrating and some orange rind notes. There is focus and a lingering finish. It would work very nicely with a rich fish dish. For drinking over the next few years, the question of whether one prefers this to their Savvy Sem blend is inevitable. While they are quite different in style, as to quality, toss a coin. Love them both.