Squitchy Lane Vineyard Yarra Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2019

Some years back Squitchy Lane produced a fumé style of sauvignon blanc. There is no specific fumé wording on the label of this wine, but I suspect it’s built along similar lines with fermentation in barrel and a touch of light smokiness that is hugely appealing. The use of oak also broadens the scope – and appeal – of this wine, contributing texture and flavour. But it remains discreet, nicely so. The bouquet celebrates the grape’s green, herbal side with a display of intense lemongrass, herbs, green bean, asparagus and a touch of nougat, savoury biscuits. So fresh and alive. The palate is equally concentrated and intense in shades of green herbs and earthy vegetables– the grape’s distinctive methoxypyrazine compounds are having a ball here – with real green apple crunch and light smoky aromatics. Runs firm and long with a bright flash of saline, sea spray to finish.

Jeni Port

Wine critic at Winepilot

Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.

Wine writer and critic