Winemaker Notes
Pair with: roasted chicken, salmon dishes, Coquille St. Jacques, and a playful perspective about life.
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
New Zealand is not all about Sauvignon Blanc. This South Island Chard is crisp and bright with racy acidity and lovely notes of white peach.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Whenever I choose a Chardonnay in the $20 to $25 range, I ask myself, "Is this going to be over-oaked in its flavors, heavy on the palate, or sweet in the finish?" Whatever the wine's place of origin—France, the USA, South America, Australia, or elsewhere—I often find these common characteristics. Fortunately, the 2014 Mt. Beautiful Chardonnay is not that way. This wine is delicious wine and stays true to the grape variety's classic fruit aromas and flavors—core fruit, dried peaches, and a hint of refreshing minerality. Drinks well now. (Tasted: October 21, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
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.
On the central eastern coast of the South Island, Canterbury includes a collection of small and varied subregions. The region is cool and dry with low rainfall and light, infertile soils. Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir are well-suited here, with Pinot Gris coming in third place.