"Wonderfully ripe and fragrant, the gorgeous bouquet shows rockmelon, fig, white nectarine and vanilla characters with subtle oatmeal complexity. The palate is concentrated and beautifully weighted, delivering lovely fruit purity together with elegant oak infusion, brilliantly framed by bright acidity. At its best: now to 2021" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit,  Apr 2018

"Bright, light straw colour with slight green hues.  The nose is very elegant and slender in presentation with a fine and tightly packed core of white stonefruits along with nuances of citrus fruit and white floral suggestions, unfolding minerally lees and nutty oak detail.  This combines intensity with finesse.  Medium-bodied, the palate is elegant in proportion with taut, but intense and penetrating flavours of white stonefruits with hints of citrus fruit and white floral elements.  The fruit is detailed by subtle notes of minerally lees and nutty oak.  The flavours possess a subtle richness which is balanced by crisp, lacy acidity, and the wine flows smoothly along a very fine line with good energy and tension, leading to a slim, but sustained finish.  This is a taut but intense Chardonnay with white stonefruit, floral and nutty flavours and subtle complexing detail on a refreshing palate with good tension.  It will develop more richness over the next+ years,  Serve with seafood and poultry.  Fruit predominantly from ‘Doc’s Block’, Haumoana, vines approx. 20 y.o. along with fruit from Ngaruroro river terrace site, vines 12 y.o., hand-picked, WBP and fully indigenous yeast barrel-fermented with high solids to 13.0% alc., the wine aged 9 months in 50% new oak with 40% MLF" Raymond Chan, Apr 2018

Subtle mineral, toast and peach characters on the nose with lemon curd and a precise, taut palate. The wine is chalky, complex, mouth-filling.

Predominantly from Doc’s Block by the sea at Haumoana, where the vines are about twenty years old and have previously served up some of Hawke’s Bays finest Chardonnay grapes. Quarter Acre blended in organically certified chardonnay from another of their blocks where the vines are twelve years old and planted on an ancient river terrace along the Ngaruroro River. Vine yield was kept at between 1.3 and 2.0 kg per vine to ensure acid balance, flavour and intensity.

Hand-picked fruit was whole bunch pressed and juice was tun straight to new and seasoned French oak barriques, around 50% of which were new. Wild ferment took a while to get underway, however once it got going it fermented hot and fast. Around 40% natural MLF took off in spring, the wine then rested on gross lees for around nine months before it was bottled. With the mix of a moderate alcohol, low pH and bright acidity, this wine is going to age beautifully.