2024 McHenry Hohnen Sauvignon Blanc

Lifted and tropical nose, with ripe loquat fruit, lychee and guava, intertwined with oatmeal elements, spice and roasted almond notes from barrel fermentation and extended time on fine lees.

The palate is creamy and full flavoured, with a core of yellow fruit and a salty acid line to balance. A highly flavoured and textural wine combining varietal definition and intriguing barrel ferment complexities.

Vineyard: 100% Calgardup Brook Vineyard. This vineyard lies just inland from the coast. Its soils are well drained sandy and schisty. The climate of this vineyard is strongly influenced by its immediate vicinity to the Indian Ocean.

Vintage 2024 marked the earliest harvest on record at McHenry Hohnen. A wet winter followed by a warm, dry spring encouraged healthy vine growth and early fruit set. Summer brought consistently dry conditions and high diurnal temperatures, with veraison occurring 2–3 weeks ahead of average. An exceptional Marri blossom season meant no bird pressure, and with no disease risk, fruit quality was pristine. The white harvest was fast-paced and compressed, resulting in wines with expressive fruit, texture, and freshness—Chardonnay and Marsanne Roussanne stood out. Red varieties ripened swiftly, with the final pick on 18 March—nearly a month earlier than 2023. Yields were lower, but quality was high, delivering reds with structure, concentration, and vibrancy.

Sourced from 30 years old vines on the eastern side of our Calgardup Brook Vineyard, the fruit was picked in the cool hours of the night, whole berry pressed and taken with some solids to barriques for extra texture and aromatic complexity. Fermented in French oak barriques and puncheons of which 10% were new. Frequent lees stirring through maturation delivers a rich, powerful texture. After 8 months in barrels the wine was taken with full lees into tank for extended time on fine lees before bottling in December 2024.