Climatically, the Margaret River has a number of similarities to the Bordeaux region, so it is no particular surprise to see more than a few wineries try their hands at blends of sauvignon blanc and semillon, a.k.a. white Bordeaux. Xanadu’s effort here is of interest, speaking clearly of its new world origins in its winemaking and purity of expression of fruit. Its style differs in fact quite markedly from white Bordeaux, highlighting again perhaps that many of the styles of Australia’s regions are best appreciated as sui generis rather marked down as imperfect shadows.
I am not sure what’s going on with the climate in the Margaret River, but the 2012 vintage seems to be another good one, with the last “bad” vintage occurring some 6 years ago now, in 2006. And frankly I’ve liked some of the 2006s too. The region is blessed, it would seem. The 2012 vintage of Xanadu’s sauvignon blanc-semillon is a pale intensity lemon-green in colour, and bright in the colour. The aroma is clean and youthful, with pronounced intensity notes of tropical fruit, green paw paw, extravagant passionfruit, kiwi fruit, lemon pith, grass and pear juice. The palate is dry, with a more restrained expression, medium acidity and some textural fatness from the semillon in the blend, youthful spritz, and medium body. The characters of tropical fruit carry through, although the somewhat loose knit palate has a lot of lemon pith to it.
This is a good wine due to its balance and extravagance of fruit flavours, and certainly speaks of the sauvignon blanc in the blend. Good
Abv: 12.5%
Price: mid $20s
Source: sample
Vendors: http://www.xanaduwines.com
Website: http://www.xanaduwines.com
Tasted: August 2012
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