Black Barn Barrel Fermented Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2019 $39 If you were wondering what the 2019 vintage was like for the great players in Hawke’s Bay chardonnay – then let it be known that it was, if this wine is any indicator, rather great. This is a wine that I look forward to each year … Read More
Chardonnay
Matahiwi Holly Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2019
Matahiwi Holly Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2019 $22 (normally $31.99) As soon as the cap comes off the bottle and you begin to pour this into your glass, you’re hit with a cloud of concentrated stonefruit cuddled in buttered crumpets and toasted almonds. It’s a lovely wine with fresh, buoyant acidity, creamy, nougat-like complexity, a solid … Read More
Montes Alpha Black Label Casablanca Valley Chardonnay 2015
Montes Alpha Black Label Casablanca Valley Chardonnay 2015 $39.99 If the only thing you know about Chilean chardonnay is that it’s the favourite tipple of erotic fiction author Rocky Flintstone (all you ‘My Dad Wrote A P**no’ podcast fans know what I mean), then hold onto your pots and pans and prepare for a toasty … Read More
Matahiwi Holly South Series Wairarapa Chardonnay 2019
Matahiwi Holly South Series Wairarapa Chardonnay 2019 $24 Matahiwi means ‘raised ridge’ in Maori, and it’s named for the landform on Paierua Road where the vineyard and winery are located. ‘Holly’ is a wine that I eagerly anticipate every year because it indicates a step up from Matahiwi’s normal chardonnay (and they’re always pretty impressive … Read More
Coxhead Creek Matakana Chardonnay 2019
Coxhead Creek Matakana Chardonnay 2019 $29 With aromas and flavours of toasted marshmallow, almond meal, roast stonefruit and toasted coconut, this bottle of Northland niceness has definitely wowed me! Mouthfilling and juicy, yet elegant and statuesque, it’s a beautifully balanced chardonnay that’ll have you wondering why the bottle went so fast. 2019 is proving to … Read More
Vidal Soler Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2019
Vidal Soler Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2019 $34.99 Reviewed in dish Magazine July/Aug 2020 and paired with Salmon, smoked fish and fennel pie Chardonnay all day is what springs to mind when gathering all the components together for this perfect pie. The Vidal Soler Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2019 ($34.99) is chock full of ripe, roasted stonefruit … Read More
Mr Glover Marlborough Chardonnay 2019
Mr Glover Marlborough Chardonnay 2019 ($27) This wine is exactly what I’m looking for in chardonnay. In terms of fruit concentration, it’s epic. In terms of oak-soaked tropicality, it’s epic. In terms of having peachy, shortcakey complexity and all the makings of being a bad boy in a bottle, it’s again, epic. Fresh acidity accentuates … Read More
Selaks 1934 Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2019
Selaks 1934 Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2019 $16.99 Created in homage to the year that Marino Selak sold his first vintage of wine, this new range boasts a chardonnay that I’m certain will become a ‘best value classic’. I say that because for sixteen bucks you have a wine that’s absolutely heaving with pineapple, peach, guava … Read More
Zephyr Marlborough Chardonnay 2017
Zephyr Marlborough Chardonnay 2017 $27.99 Reviewed for NZ Herald Canvas Magazine March 28 2020 – paired with Annabel Langbein’s Cheesy Vegetable Gratin recipe. Comfort food like this deserves comfort wine, right? Well there’s no reason why that comfortable, cuddly wine can’t also be whipcrack sexy at the same time. That’s all a’happening with the Zephyr … Read More
Matawhero Church House Barrel Fermented Gisborne Chardonnay 2018
Matawhero Church House Barrel Fermented Gisborne Chardonnay 2018 $29.99 It’s a rare thing to see chardonnay that’s been farmed without irrigation in this country, but the Matawhero team reckon it’s the best way to achieve purity of flavour and really stamp the signature of the soils on a wine. It means the vines need to … Read More