• Oaked
• Tropical fruit
• Citrus notes
• Creamy

This wine shows an array of fruit characters, ranging from citrus through to tropical notes. This is complemented by some secondary characters from the natural yeast ferments and some barrel aging. The palate has an elegant structure with a creamy, textural mid-palate and a long finish.

This year, our 21st, was a very distinctive one characterised by the early timing of it, the small crops, and also the cleanliness of the fruit. Starting on March 4th, it was the earliest start, and finish, that we have had, and the weird thing was that it was not a hot vintage, so it wasn’t heat that caused the grapes to ripen early. The key factor was the low crops, as healthy vines will ripen a lower crop faster than a heavier one, and these low crops were caused by an untimely rain period over flowering, which was in early December. The rain caused the pollen to fall to the ground, rather than fertilise flowers, leaving small open bunches, that allowed air to flow around the berries and so we had no Botrytis at all.

The aim for this Chardonnay is to retain a fresh structure rather than producing a wine that is too broad. The clone and site help with this, but also the picking decisions also work to retain acidity in the glass. This wine comes from a small parcel in the Twin Valley Vineyard, located in the Fareham Lane area of Marlborough. The vineyard is at the western end of the Wairau Valley, at the junction with the Waihopai, and is on the top terrace. The upper terrace along the Wairau has a more complex soil, a great mixture of silt, clay and stones that give drainage but also some water-holding to help the vines through the dry periods. Being some distance from the sea the climate is also cooler. The grapes therefore typically ripen more slowly and retain an interesting mineral character. The vines were cropped low to ensure ripeness and palate richness. The grapes were then whole-cluster pressed and the high-solids juice taken straight to French barriques for fermentation with indigenous yeast. After 15 months in oak, we felt the balance was correct and gently took the wine from barrel.