2020 Francois Lurton Sauvignon Blanc Hacienda Araucano Humo Blanco Edicion Limitada Lolol Valley 750 ml

A lot of estates make great Sauvignon Blanc, but few have defined the variety like the Lurton family. Bordeaux legend André Lurton founded the region’s premier white-wine appellation, Pessac-Léognan, and built his family’s immense legacy on impeccably vibrant and deep Sauvignon Blanc.

All that to say: André’s son François knew exactly what a perfect Sauv Blanc terroir should look like—and he found it in Chile’s Lolol Valley, the source of this laser-focused 2020 Humo Blanco. 

François had searched extensively for Sauvignon Blanc sites that could meet his standards, and landed on a plot in Chile’s coastal mountains—one that had never been farmed. The vineyards sit 20 miles from the Pacific, but thanks to an east-west valley that channels the ocean winds, the site might as well be on the beach. A white mist (humo blanco) settles there every morning, keeping grapes cool and buzzing with acidity before burning off in the warm afternoon.

The Lolol Valley’s climate is extremely similar to Bordeaux’s: sunny, but temperate and breezy, with large diurnal temperature swings. To harness that climate, François instituted biodynamic farming principles and the Lurtons’ viticultural playbook—the strict practices that have yielded some of Bordeaux’s most esteemed white wines.

In 2020, those practices produced a luminous Sauvignon Blanc with an array of floral and tropical aromas. On the palate, it’s a thrilling marriage of piercing acidity and creamy, Old World texture—the kind of balance of austerity and lush fruit that inspired Food & Wine to call Chilean Sauvignon Blanc 2021’s “ Most Interesting Wine of the Year.”

While it’s worthy of the Lurtons’ weighty name, this wine doesn’t even need it. Its vivacity and precision impress all on their own.