Folding Hill Bendigo Chardonnay 2023 $38 Wow! Central Otago Chardonnay is absolutely having its moment and I’m exultant about that. From the 2023 vintage the team at Folding Hill have crafted a fantastic example, a style roaring with baked stonefruit, creme brulee, soft caramelised characters a lick of white pepper and grapefruit pith. A style … Read More
Chardonnay
Palliser Estate Om Santi Vineyard Martinborough Chardonnay 2023
Palliser Estate Om Santi Vineyard Martinborough Chardonnay 2023 $85 Sourced from Palliser’s original, gravelly vineyard, Om Santi is certified organic and their flagship Chardonnay, only produced in years when the fruit is deemed exceptional by winemaker Guy McMaster and his team, and designed for maximum impact. And it does exactly that. Erupting with stonefruit intensity, … Read More
French Peak Banks Peninsula Chardonnay 2023
French Peak Banks Peninsula Chardonnay 2023 $52 Absolutely stacked with shiny medals, this Chardonnay from the scenic surrounds of Banks Peninsula is light, cleansing, softly oaked, and laced with a layer of creamy complexity and delivers very youthful acidity. It’s a style I’d like to go back to in another year or so. White peach, … Read More
Pegasus Bay Virtuoso Waipara Chardonnay 2021
Pegasus Bay Virtuoso Waipara Chardonnay 2021 $68 Mat Donaldson and his team only create a Virtuoso when the fruit is exceptional, and in 2021, clearly the Chardonnay gods were smiling on their vineyards in Waipara, North Canterbury. The result is a deeply smoky, complex wine laced with baked stonefruit, charred pineapple and grilled grapefruit. Caramelised, … Read More
Whitehaven Marlborough Chardonnay 2023
Whitehaven Marlborough Chardonnay 2023 $25 Bright, vibrant, roast nectarine and grilled grapefruit characters on the nose and palate, interlaced with crisp acidity, beautifully balanced oak treatment, creamy stonefruit, almond meal and soft, buttery, caramelised characters to finish. Whitehaven
Mt Difficulty Ghost Town Lowburn Valley Chardonnay 2020
Mt Difficulty Ghost Town Lowburn Valley Chardonnay 2020 $39 Crafted from small parcels of fruit sourced from Mt D’s Lowburn vineyards, this glossily golden chardonnay roars with roast nectarine, grilled grapefruit, buckets of toasted almonds, creamy complexity and bursts of buttery goodness. Beautifully balanced, nougat-nuanced oak notes combine with refreshing acidity and “drink me” personality … Read More
Martinborough Vineyard Home Block Martinborough Chardonnay 2021
Martinborough Vineyard Home Block Martinborough Chardonnay 2021 $39 Re-tasting this two years after release, all I can say is that if you have this in your cellar, see it on a wine list or discover a bottle hidden away on a shop shelf then dive in!! Oh lord, today this wine is overdelivering in every … Read More
Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels Chardonnay 2023
Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels Chardonnay 2023 $35-$39 From one of the most challenging vintages Hawke’s Bay has ever seen, where Cyclone Gabrielle roared through the region and devastated so many vineyards and dumped an unholy amount of rain just a week or two before harvest was due to begin. Fortunately Trinity’s Chardonnay grows in the … Read More
Matawhero Irwin Gisborne Chardonnay 2021
Matawhero Irwin Gisborne Chardonnay 2021 $60 Kirsten and Richard Searle choose only the absolute best quality fruit to go into this, their flagship Chardonnay, a wine named after Bill and Denis Irwin, the pioneering founders of Matawhero, men who put Gisborne fine wine on the international map. The 2021 Irwin roars with nectarine and grapefruit … Read More
Domain Road Defiance Central Otago Chardonnay 2021
Domain Road Defiance Central Otago Chardonnay 2021 $35 Graeme Crosbie grows three clones of Chardonnay in his Defiance Vineyard, 809, 1066 and 548, which are the three great clones used by the world-famous, French Grand Crus of Corton-Charlemagne in Burgundy. Central Otago chardonnay is rocking my socks right now and the Defiance is absolutely entering … Read More