2018 Sauvignon Blanc 500
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Tasting notes
Named for the 500-liter barrels (largely used) in which it is raised, this bottling is informed by what the Von Winning team deem their best Sauvignon sites and their most perfectly ripe fruit. Scents and flavors of candied lime and grapefruit peels with gooseberry preserves are paired with notes of resin, lanolin and vanilla from barrel. A lush, glossy feel enhances the wine’s sense of ripeness. The trade-off, as is so often the case with this bottling and others of its ilk, is a slight drying influence on the finish from oak tannin. Happily, though, not only do enough tang and juiciness come through to encourage the next sip, but so does a mouthwatering hint of salinity. I’m skeptical of this wine’s aging potential. But I must admit that it smoothed out attractively between November 2019 and November 2020. I have not had an opportunity to taste von Winning Sauvignon that has been in the bottle for longer than 18 months.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The 2018 Sauvignon Blanc 500 offers a deep, complex and flinty bouquet of ripe but fresh fruits, biscuits and crushed stones. Lush, fresh and elegant, with remarkable finesse and salinity as well as phenolic notes, this is a noble, elegant and balanced Sauvignon with good freshness and grip on the finish. Vinified in new and used tonneaux, this is Sauvignon between two worlds, Loire and Bordeaux, so definitely Pfalz. The wine has fine salinity on the pure finish but perhaps lacks the power and intensity and full ripeness. Tasted in May 2020.
This has attractive, flinty aromas with lime, lemon and lemon-blossom notes. The palate has impressive layering and the oak treatment here adds clever depth and savory complexity to the long finish. Drink now. Screw cap.