Winemaker Notes
Pale lime to pale straw. Subtle, yes definitive aromas of lime zest and grapefruit pulp with hints of brioche and fresh cashews. The palate has saline acidity that carries the citrus notes from nose to mouth. The savory complexity provides the perfect counter-point for a Chardonnay that truly reflects its maritime origins.
Pair this wine alongside comté cheese, truffle pasta, or smashed pea-pesto on freshly toasted sourdough.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has such a floral, fragrant and perfumed nose with sliced-pear and melon aromas, as well as very fresh, fleshy flavors on the palate. This has such a pure, gently honeyed, pear and melon-flavored palate. Refined and refreshing. Drink now.
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Wine Enthusiast
This affordable Chardonnay, from one of New Zealand’s best known names, is intensely perfumed, a heady, musky combo of flower blossoms, peach cobbler, orange zest and ginger. The medium-weight palate is powdery in texture with a lovely freshness. It lacks some length and depth, and is a bit overpolished, but has plenty of appeal nonetheless. Kobrand.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
An eclectic region on the east coast of the North Island, Hawkes Bay extends from wide, fertile, coastal plains, inland, to the coast range, whose peaks reach as high as 5,300 feet. While the flatter areas were historically more popular because they are easier to cultivate, their alluvial soils can be too fertile for vines. In the late 20th century, the drive for quality led growers to the hills where soils are free-draining, limestone-rich and more suited to producing high quality wines.
Over the passing of time, the old Ngaruroro River laid down deep, gravelly beds, which were subsequently exposed after a huge flood in the 1860’s. In the 1980s growers identified this stretch, which continues for approximately 800 ha, and named it the Gimblett Gravels. The zone has proven to be ideal for the production of excellent red wines, particularly Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah.
Today the area takes well-earned recognition for its Bordeaux blends and other reds. Expressive of intense stewed red and black berry with gentle herbaceous characters, Gimblett Gravels wines are suggestive of their cool climate origin, and on par with other top-notch Bordeaux blends around the globe.
Chardonnay is the top white grape in Hawkes Bay, making elegant wines, strong in stone fruit character. Sauvignon blanc comes in close behind, notable for its tropical, fruit forward qualities.