Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
A sense of lemon zest comes with notions of wet pebble and alluring note of fresh, green apple. The palate conveys brisk freshness first and foremost that allows pure, ripe lemon to shine. A mouth-watering, engaging, appetising Chardonnay with much texture and no heaviness at all. Finest refreshment - made without any new oak.
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James Suckling
A fantastic chardonnay with a creamy, stoney and deliciously fruity, balanced palate with lively acidity. Poised and harmonious. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Block 2 Chardonnay is a powerful wine, with crushed nuts and orchard fruit aplenty in the mouth. The acidity is pert, verging on frisky, and serves to spear through the heart of the fruit. It has an open-weave, granular sort of shape to it—not loose but almost. Robust fruit is on display here. This is authoritative, with robust acidity. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.
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Wine Spectator
Mouthwatering and intense, with Meyer lemon, salted butterscotch and notes of grilled peach and ripe melon on a juicy, succulent frame.
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.
Home to the globe’s most southerly vineyards, which are cultivated below the 45th parallel, Central Otago is a true one-of-a-kind wine growing region, but not only because of its extreme location.
Central Otago is more dependent on one single variety than any other region in New Zealand—and it isn’t Sauvignon blanc. They don’t even make Sauvignon blanc there.
Pinot Noir claims nearly 75% of the region’s vineyards with Pinot Gris coming in a far second place and Riesling behind it. This is also New Zealand’s only wine region with a continental climate, giving it more diurnal and seasonal temperature shifts than any other.
The subregion of Bannockburn has enjoyed the most success historically but the area’s exceptional growth has moved to the promising regions of Cromwell/Bendigo and Alexandra districts. Central Otago is known for its fruity and full-bodied Pinot noir. With the freedom to experiment here, growers and winemakers are easily exhibiting the area’s great potential.