Chardonnay
Regionally, Chardonnay is a star performer – and a favourite of ours. It is a variety which opens up a world of winemaking options and challenges. Ultimately though it is the character of the fruit itself which determines the most appropriate wine style and it is the role of the winemaker to recognize this and allow it to express.
Underlying our Chardonnays are citrus florals and fruits, fresh stone fruit and a fine mineral vitality. Site and viticultural practices provide the fruit concentration and structure which supports subtle layers of complexity, elegance and energy.
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2023 ‘Road Block’ Chardonnay
Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, July 2024 – Stylish and delightfully composed, the wine shows white flesh peach, rockmelon, lemon peel and almond meal nuances on the nose. It’s beautifully rounded in the mouth, displaying creamy texture combined with finely pitched acidity, finishing wonderfully long and satisfying. The balance is excellent with layers of complex flavours. At its best: now to 2030 94 Points
Cameron Douglas MS, 14 August 2025 – An elegant and youthful bouquet with scents of site then fruit, some wood spices and flowers. Aromas of clay and stone, clove and nut, white flowers then a mix of pomaceous fruits and peach. Dry on the palate with a satin mouthfeel, contrasting acid line and flavours of fruit then soil that mirror the bouquet and frame of the wine. Taut with a lovely poise and release, a wine that will age well with best drinking from mid to late 2026 through 2032+ 94 Points
From roadside blocks on the Morison and Home Vineyards. Clone B95 is planted in the top section of the Morison Vineyard where 1-1.5 meters of heavier clays, washed down from the hills immediately behind, overlay the loamy, stony gravels typical of this terrace of the Waimea Plains. The Mendoza portion of the blend is grown on the Home block. Vines are cane pruned on a single fruiting wire with a target yield of 6-7 tonnes per hectare. Hand harvested and whole-bunch pressed, the juice is briefly settled and transferred, still cloudy, to French oak barriques and larger format barrels where fermentation begins spontaneously. The wine has undergone a spring malolactic fermentation (MLF) in barrel to further soften acidity and enhance mouthfeel.
2022 Hope Vineyard Chardonnay
“A wine that starts modestly then grows and grows. Scents of broom flower and milkiness; a palate lifted by juicy acidity with flavours of citrus, dill and other freshly cut herbs. The texture is lithe. Less is more – so much is achieved without grand sweeping gestures. Full of vivacity and life.” John Saker , Te Whenua No.6, March 2024
“Crisp, tangy chardonnay with an intriguing sweet-sour contrast and a lingering finish and impressively high energy. Youthful, refreshing wine that is drinking well now but should mellow and become even more complex with bottle age.” 94 Points Bob Campbell The Real review, August 2024
Hope Vineyard Chardonnay is made from the intensely-flavoured Mendoza clone grown in the Winery and Road Blocks, 18 and 29 years old respectively. These have been managed organically since 2008 and are fully BioGro NZ certified. Fruit is hand harvested and whole bunch pressed to tank where it is very briefly settled before racking to French oak barriques. Fermentation begins within 3-5 days and completes over a period of months, some barrels sooner. Yeast lees are stirred several time per month during the first winter only. Matured in barrel on full yeast lees for 11 months during which time malolactic fermentation completed.
The Mendoza clone provides this wine with excellent concentration and structure which has been modulated and enriched by the winemaking process. Typical of the Hope Chardonnay, this wine expresses ripe citrus fruit aromas and flavours. Malo character is not overt but softens acidity and contributes to palate richness. Lower impact oak is selected to support and harmonise with the fruit. There is a purity and vivacity which we are at pains to preserve throughout, at the same time building palate texture and complexity. The goal is to allow the restrained elegance and energy of this wine to express itself.
From one of New Zealand’s best Chardonnay terroirs, Nelson at the northern tip of the South Island. This (2019 Vintage) consists of fruit from Mendoza and UCD15 clones planted on clay and river stone soils, giving intense, concentrated bunches. Fermentation with wild yeasts and high turbidity is in French oak barriques (14% new) with 10 months maturation on the lees. The wine went through malolactic fermentaion spontaneously. A bit of depth to the colour and loads of flinty character, smoky and intensely perfumed by its complex sulphides. Nutty Cox’s pippin apples come through, and on the palate it is searing with both ripe, deliciously juicy fruit and salt-licked lemon acidity. The axis of toastines, sweet fruit and saline acid structure makes for a very powerful rendition of Chardonnay. 91/100 Tom Cannavan, UK, 8 October 2022