Hunter's Marlborough Chardonnay 2019

Hunter's Marlborough Chardonnay 2019French oak Ripe pear & stone fruit Baking spice & vanilla Refreshing acidity "No mistaking the power of fruit and oak in harmony on the nose peach and sweet baking spices, apples and brazil nut, vanilla and toasty barrel. Full bodied, toasty, oaky and fruity on the palate with flavours reflect the bouquet of fruit and woody attributes, warming alcohol and refreshing acidity. A lovely wine ready to enjoy upon purchase and through 2023+" Cameron

• French oak
• Ripe pear & stone fruit
• Baking spice & vanilla
• Refreshing acidity

"No mistaking the power of fruit and oak in harmony on the nose - peach and sweet baking spices, apples and brazil-nut, vanilla and toasty barrel. Full-bodied, toasty, oaky and fruity on the palate with flavours reflect the bouquet of fruit and woody attributes, warming alcohol and refreshing acidity. A lovely wine ready to enjoy upon purchase and through 2023+"  Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Mar 2021

"This impressive, barrel-fermented wine is refined and generous, with strong stone-fruit flavours showing good complexity and a tightly structured, long finish. A top vintage, it offers great value" Michael Cooper, Feb 2021

The wine has beautiful stone-fruit and ripe pear characters on the nose with some citrus undertones. The palate shows a tight mid-palate with flinty characters that lead into a complex and juicy finish. Good balance from the toasty oak character that compliments the fruity structure. This wine drinks very well on release but will develop and evolve over the next 5-7 years.

The 2019 growing season was very warm and caused drought conditions in some parts of Marlborough. As our vineyards have good water security, we were able to avoid any issues arising from water stress. The vintage itself was very enjoyable. The rain stayed away, allowing us to pick the grapes at optimum ripeness. Quality will be very high across all varieties from the 2019 vintage.

Chardonnay grapes were sourced from the Rapaura, Renwick and Omaka sub regions of Marlborough. We have been using the same vineyards for many years which gives the wine a certain level of consistency. The grapes were picked by machine or hand depending on the block and pressed without sulphur to a stainless steel vat. The cloudy juice was then transferred into 500 litre French oak puncheons for fermentation. Indigenous yeasts were employed for alcoholic fermentation after which, 80% malolactic fermentation occurred. The wine was aged in puncheons on yeast lees for 10 months before blending and bottling.