2019 Hermit Ram Ancestral Sauvignon Blanc

Region: North Canterbury < New Zealand

Grape: Sauvignon Blanc

Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Certified organic farming (BioGro); glacial gravel soils; grapes are destemmed and fermented on skins for a month then bottled after malolactic, unfined/unfiltered, with no added So2; zero-zero; 11.5% ABV

Winemaker: Theo Coles

Another wine from Theo Coles, the Hermit Ram - a fizzy take on his benchmark skin-fermented Sauv Blanc!

People are buzzing about Theo's wines, calling them the most exciting thing to come out of New Zealand since Lord of the Rings.  Because he makes super raw, authentic expressions of New Zealand's unique terroir that he calls "pre-technology wines". Theo doesn't own vineyards, but sources fruit from tiny vineyards throughout the Canterbury region of New Zealand and makes wines with basically no intervention, just loads of soul.

This is his Pet'Nat, a micro-production, fuzzy, cloudy, lightly sparkling Sauvignon Blanc. Made in the ancestral method, with one fermentation in the bottle and no disgorging, this wine is softly effervescent rather than fiercely carbonated like Champagne.   The texture is soft and mouth-filling, the palate sexy and exotic, with ripe, juicy nectarine, grapefruit, kumquat and a hit of passion fruit.  We FREAKING love this wine!