A shimmering golden lime colour, this vibrant wine shows a distinct minerality on the nose, with delicate jasmine and honeysuckle florals, toasty caramel notes, alongside white peach, caramel and roasted fig aromas.

Flinty, chalky Chardonnay characteristics on the palate are here finely counterbalanced by a silken textural display of honeydew melon, fig, pear and preserved lemon with an intensely rich mid-palate shot through with a subtle lime acidity.

This is a limited release of a supremely harmonious wine of elegant length and poise.

Once again, the effect of Covid lockdowns saw a smaller team at work in the vineyard, without our usual international backpacker support and winter pruning, all done by hand, was particularly challenging. A very early budburst gave us a very long flowering period this vintage, something experienced in most grape growing regions in the country. Veraison (colour change and softening of the berries) also was extraordinarily early, so in an unprecedented move, we started netting even before the end of December. 

Our vineyard team did their usual meticulous job of creating an open vine canopy by removing excess foliage by hand to allow air movement to dry the fruit and allow sunlight penetration. We are clearly reaping the benefits of the application over many years of organic soil health-enhancing products, producing healthier vines which can better withstand disease.

Although the drought conditions of 2020 were not repeated in 2021, we were able to carefully monitor the developing fruit ripeness through a warm summer and hand harvest an exceptional quality crop. As with most regions in the country, our yield for this vintage was generally 20% less than the previous year, a reflection of a cooler spring during the flowering period.

The hand-harvested Chardonnay fruit was whole-bunch pressed, cold settled and then racked into one and two year old French barrels for fermentation. The wine remained on lees during the malo-lactic fermentation then remained in barrel for around 10 months before bottling.

Wine writer reviews:

CAMERON DOUGLAS, MS: 95+ points

"Pure, bright, new and focused bouquet. Scents of fresh white peach and grapefruit, California stone fruits, lees and wood combinations deliver shape, form and complexity. A delicious wine on the palate with a silk touch, a core of white fleshed fruits and citrus, judicious use of oak with fine tannins matched perfectly by the acid line and a delicate flinty reduction. Well made, complex and lengthy. Best drinking from late 2024 through 2030."

BOB CAMPBELL MW:  92pts
Vibrant, high energy chardonnay with grapefruit, green apple, oyster shell, cashew nut and almond flavours supported by fine tannins and crisp acidity. Textural wine with the potential to develop well with moderate bottle age.

PLEASE NOTE:

Any orders above two bottles will not be fulfilled, so please do not put through more than two.