Marlborough

Stonefruit, lemon and butterscotch are just a few of the many aromas found on the nose. The palate is rich and round with vanilla and spicy oak characters, wonderfully integrated with citrus fruit flavours. The wine has good concentration with natural acidity providing a tight structure and good length.

Moroccan chicken with chickpeas and fresh coriander.

Marcus Wright / Dean Boyce.

The grapes were harvested and pressed to French oak barriques (25% new) for fermentation. Wild and selected burgundian yeasts were used for the primary fermentation and a portion of the blend was allowed to under go malolactic fermentation. Each barrel was lees stirred for two months post fermentation.

The 2007 vintage was near perfect for Chardonnay, with cooler weather over flowering that limited crop levels. The remainder of the summer was warm and dry. The Mendoza clone Chardonnay grapes for this wine came off our Chaytors Road vineyard, which has free draining soils and is a fairly early ripening site. Leaf plucking to expose the fruit to the sun ensured good flavour development.

This wine will age nicely through to 2011, developing toasty aged characters and added complexity.

Alcohol: 14.5 % pH: 3.36 Residual Sugar: 2.0g/L Total Acidity: 7.0g/L Brix: 24