Mt Beautiful North Canterbury Chardonnay 2019

Mt Beautiful North Canterbury Chardonnay 2019Spicy oak White peach Hazelnut Crisp finish "Gently aromatic, creamy textured Chardonnay with white peach, hazelnut and spicy oak characters. A seamless wine with integrated flavours and a pleasantly dry finished" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Mar 2021 An aromatic Chardonnay that displays white nectarine and toasted sourdough and lanolin aromas, the wine has a creamy texture that makes it easy to drink. Medium bodied with ripe nectarine

• Spicy oak
• White peach
• Hazelnut
• Crisp finish

"Gently aromatic, creamy-textured Chardonnay with white peach, hazelnut and spicy oak characters. A seamless wine with integrated flavours and a pleasantly dry finished" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Mar 2021

An aromatic Chardonnay that displays white nectarine and toasted sourdough and lanolin aromas, the wine has a creamy texture that makes it easy to drink. Medium bodied with ripe nectarine like fruit, underlying notes of roasted almonds cashew nuts and cinnamon quills ending with a clean and crisp finish and a lovely persistent minerality and savoury toastiness.

Our Chardonnay is planted on the most Northern part of the vineyard and is hand-tended and hand-harvested. The clones are a mixture of French clones B95, 548, UCD15 and UCD1 grafted onto different rootstocks. The vineyard is in charge of dictating the flavor profile of the Chardonnay, so far yielding flavors of peachy stone fruits and creamy almonds. The first vintage was 2013.

2019 was a good growing season overall. It was warm with adequate moisture. This lead to a very good growing season and good flowering , nice even bunches and early ripening. Picking commenced a few days later than 2018 on the 29th March and finished on the 9th April. Harvest of the last part of Chardonnay was delayed due to higher crop yields and a cold spell. All of our Chardonnay was handpicked in different batches depending on levels of ripeness which was just as well as the later picks needed a good deal or sorting because of diseases pressure. TheFruit was then gently whole bunch pressed which resulted in delicate fruit-driven aromas and good palate weight, while minimizing the extraction of undesirable phenolics. Once pressed, the juice settled 36 hours before the clear juice was put (50/50 split) into tank and barrel (new and neutral oak) for fermentation. About half of the barrels went through the malolactic fermentation to soften the acid balance and broaden the palate. Both barrel and tank components were aged on lees for 10 months adding textural elements to the wine to produce a wine that has fine stone fruit characters, creaminess of texture and length.

Food Pairing: Pair our Mt. Beautiful Chardonnay with poached chicken, fresh baked salmon, Coquille St St. Jacques, and a playful perspective about life.