Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Mainly Mendoza but with some Clone 95 and Clone 548 now appearing in the blend, the 2017 Elston Chardonnay is one of the highlights of this challenging vintage, according to winemaker Phil Brodie. Subtle toast notes frame pineapple and melon notes in this entirely barrel-fermented wine that saw 35% new French oak. It's medium to full-bodied, plump and custardy on the mid-palate but clean and crisp on the long, citrus-and-peach finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
A fairly tricky vintage, the 2017 Chardonnay is less full throttle and ripe than in previous years, but its restraint offers poise and age-worthiness. Soft pineapple and melon aromas sit alongside vegetal green-pepper ones, along with white spice and toasty vanillin oak. The acidity is what's particularly noticeable on this vintage, but it's balanced by chalky texture and fruit weight. Medium bodied, the oak is somewhat on show but mostly in a supporting rather than leading role. Drink 2021–2029.
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.