Quarter Acre Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2016

Quarter Acre Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2016"A gratifying chardonnay; the impressively lifted bouquet shows grilled peach, rockmelon, nougat, vanilla and toasted hazelnut aromas. The palate is concentrated and succulent with creamy texture and delectable flavours, brilliantly enhanced by nuances of spice and brioche notes, finishing superbly long and silky. At its best: now to 2020" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, March 2017 "Bright, even, pale straw yellow colour with slight green hues, lighter edged.

"A gratifying chardonnay; the impressively lifted bouquet shows grilled peach, rockmelon, nougat, vanilla and toasted hazelnut aromas. The palate is concentrated and succulent with creamy texture and delectable flavours, brilliantly enhanced by nuances of spice and brioche notes, finishing superbly long and silky. At its best: now to 2020" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, March 2017

"Bright, even, pale straw-yellow colour with slight green hues, lighter edged. The nose is fine and intensely concentrated with tightly bound aromas of citrus fruit and white stonefruits interwoven with nutty and spicy oak in an amalgam of flinty mineral detail. The aromatics build in intensity with aeration. Medium-full bodied, the palate is fine and taut, with elegantly concentrated flavours of citrus fruits and white stonefruits melded with a layering of spicy, nutty oak and creamy barrel-ferment notes and lemon-curd MLF. The palate is complexed by flint and minerals. The palate has strong linearity and is guided by fine textures, and the mouthfeel is enlivened by bright, brisk acidity. The wine carries to a long, lingering finish of citrus fruit and spicy oak. This is an elegantly taut but concentrated, lively and powerfully driven Chardonnay with citrus, stonefruit and nutty oak flavours. Serve with seafood, and creamy poultry and pork dishes over the next 5 years. Hand-picked fruit from ‘Doc’s Block’, Haumoana, WBP and indigenous yeast fermented on full solids to 13.5% alc., the wine aged 9 months on lees in 60% new French oak barriques with 30% MLF" Raymond Chan, Mar 2017

Subtle gunsmoke, toast and peach characters on the nose with lemon curd and a precise, taut palate. The wine is chalky, complex, mouthfilling and packed with Hawke’s Bay.

From Doc’s Block by the sea at Haumoana, these vines are about 20 years old and have previously served up some of Hawke’s Bays finest Chardonnay grapes. Autumn 2016 was warm and settled. Vine yield was kept below 2.0 kg per vine to ensure acid balance, flavour and intensity.

We whole bunch pressed hand-picked fruit and ran the juice straight to new and seasoned French oak barriques, around 60% of which were new. Wild ferment took a while to get underway, however once it got going it fermented hot and fast. Around 30% natural MLF took off in spring and the wine then rested on gross lees for around nine months before it was bottled. With the mix of a moderate alcohol, low pH and bright acidity, this wine is going to age beautifully.