A Thousand Gods, No Devices 2024
Place: Marlborough, New Zealand
Grape: Petit Manseng
Vibe: Serious
Tasting through the range, each wine nodded to an old-world producer I adore. The Styrian-styled Sauvignons, the love letter to L'Anglore, and then there was this. It instantly read as Lajibe on my palate. Jurançon, just from halfway across the world Flinty and reductive, fleshing out into a taut, mineral bottle that sends shivers down the spine. Incredibly rare too, as there is currently only 1 hectare of Petit Manseng planted in New Zealand. As you can imagine, there is next to nothing made, and even less has made it to our shores. Usually, out of fairness, I don't take dibs on allocations. Sorry, but this was so good I had to take one home. Tell a lie, it was so ingrained in my brain I had to check I wasn't having a moment of delusion. Nope. This is the real deal.