2020 Hermit Ram Skin-Fermented 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 Kiwi wine!  Theo Coles is the Hermit Ram, and he makes super raw, authentic expressions of New Zealand's unique terroir -- he calls them "pre-technology wines". He 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.

Aromatically more restrained than your typical Marlborough SB, this wine drinks more a white with palate weight and tension rather than your typical orange wine.  Cloudy and fuzzy, it smells faintly of nectarines, orange blossom, and passion fruit -- pretty, aromatic notes that show up -- on steroids -- in the glass, alongside spice (ginger + jalapeño).  It finishes with a super salty, richly textured wave of acid.  So good,  like an exotic South Pacific island fruit punch with a salt rim.  We can't get enough!