D'Arenberg The Broken Fishplate Sauvignon Blanc 2022 is a vibrant, tropical-leaning white from the Adelaide Hills. Bursting with passionfruit, pineapple, and zesty lime, it's lifted by floral, herbal, and wet slate notes. Balanced acidity and a crisp mineral edge lead to a long, savoury finish with hints of asparagus and cut grass—fresh, expressive, and seriously drinkable.

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An intriguing Sauvignon Blanc from the cool climate Adelaide Hills.

The Name
Despite being a good match for fish, the name has nothing to do with them! A fishplate is a term for the nylon plates that collect grape bunches on a harvester, and often break when navigating around the steep, windy vineyards.

The Vintage
It has been a good winter, the early Spring rains set the vines up very well. November was about 3 degrees colder than average and so the set was variable, especially Mauvedre which suffered the worst. Luckily, many varieties still had quite a large potential crop, so yields ended about 15% down from 2021 (which was a big crop year). December was bone dry, but January saw 33mm compared to 20mm average. This too set the vines up very well. There was almost no rain and very mild conditions in February, March and April, free of hot or cold spells which resulted in very good leaf retention and ripening. All varieties resulted in outstanding wines. At this stage, It is early to call the vintage but I believe the reds from this vintage are the best I have seen in years. They show great colour fruit, fruit fragrance, richness, acidity, tannins and style. The Red skins were very thick and crunchy and no shrivel was seen, resulting in high tannin content, causing us to pull juice off the skins sweeter than usual, to achieve the desired results.

The Winemaking
The fruit for this wine is sourced from the cool climate Adelaide Hills. Small batches of grapes are gently crushed, chilled, and then transferred to stainless steel basket presses. Gentle extraction of the juice is critical in these early stages to retain the delicate fruit characters. To add complexity and mouthfeel, a small percentage of the wine is partially fermented in aged French oak for two to three weeks.

The Characteristics
Extremely vibrant and limpid colour shows a great level of finesse and freshness. On the nose, exuberant aromas of passion fruit,
zesty lime, pineapple, wet slate and herbal notes. On the palate is where everything sets it apart. Tropical fruit flavours like passion fruit, pineapple and lychee are intertwined with a crisp and fresh minerality. The acidity is well balanced bringing the right amount of freshness without making the wine astringent. The finish is long and savoury adding subtle notes of asparagus and cut grass.