BIG, BUTTERY, OAKY? NOPE! A SOOTHING CHARDONNAY WITH FRESH, COOL FRUIT FLAVOURS THAT REFLECT THE BEAUTY OF THE VINEYARD, WITHOUT THE WINEMAKER’S BOOTS STOMPING ALL OVER IT.
FOOD MATCH
Perfect with classic fish and chips or hot buttered crayfish. Or try it with grilled chicken burgers with or satay chicken skewers topped with fresh spring onion.
WINEMAKERS NOTES
The fashion for chardonnay used to be the big, buttery, oaky wine. Do we care for fashion? Pah! This is a wine that is fresh and has great fruit flavours that expresses the vineyard it was plucked from.
AROMA & FLAVOUR
This wine is straw yellow in colour. Delicious fruit aromas of ripe peach and mango interlace with ripe pear and red apple notes. These primary aromas are backed up with complex hints of lemon curd, toasted almond and caramel. On the palate, this wine has a lovely weighty creaminess whilst retaining a pristine, fresh fruitiness. The flavours are mouthfilling and complex and give way to a long, juicy finish.
VINTAGE NOTES
The growing season began with a roar. A wet winter had left soils saturated, and mild spring temperatures kicked off strong early canopy growth. Flowering was slightly earlier than average with vines in mid flower by late December. A little drizzle during flowering affected pollination and meant the bunches were open and had lots of smaller berries in them. After the wet winter and adequate rainfall during spring, the last significant rain of summer was on Christmas day when 27mls fell. For the rest of the growing season the warm dry weather was perfect for growing disease-free fruit and meant harvest was going to start early. The dry summer reduced the size of the grapes and so crops were a bit lighter than estimates had predicted. Vintage itself was really concentrated with all fruit harvested in 22 days compared to the 33 days over 2018. The 2019 harvest is of very high quality with pristine fruit and great flavours. Chardonnay flavours will be very concentrated and in a riper style than the past two vintages.
VINIFICATION
The fruit for this wine came from two unique vineyards in Marlborough’s Southern Valleys, Meadowbank Estate up the Taylor Pass and Anderson Vineyard in the Brancott valley. The grapes were harvested carefully by hand and machine then taken to the winery for transformation into liquid gold using a variety of techniques. Whole cluster pressed portions went directly into French oak barrels for a wild ferment on high solids. Other portions were tank fermented and some were cold settled and partially tank fermented and then sent to barrels midferment. The yeast lees in the barrels were stirred frequently over a nine month period to add body and complexity, and the wine underwent full malolactic fermentation to lower the acid profile. After its extended nap in the barrels, the various parcels were pumped back to tank, blended then bottled.