Te Awanga 2017 Chardonnay "Quarter Acre"Hawke's Bay, New Zealand

For the Chardonnay Rod sources his grapes from two vineyards. One of the vineyards is called Doc’s block and it has 20 year-old vines that have been apart of making some of the best chardonnays in Hawke’s Bay. The other blocks are from certified organic vines planted along a riverbed. After the grapes are handpicked, sorted and whole bunch pressed it is put into new and seasoned French Oak barriques which 50% of them are new. The Quarter Acre series is all about letting the wine do its own thing and the Chardonnay isn’t any different. They used the natural wild yeasts for fermentation and then have it sit on its gross lees for 9 months before bottling. The subtle toast of the barrels gives the wine a bit of that warm chardonnay feel without being overly oaky. The wine has wonderful aromas of peach and lemon curd. The body of the wine has a chalky flinty minerality too it that is mouth filling and really representative of the Hawke’s Bay land.