• French oak
• Ripe citrus
• Brioche & nougat
• Vibrant acidity

"Light-mid yellow colour; subtle nutty/nougat and wheat-meal complexities, the palate tremendously intense, bright, tensioned and focused, with terrific balance and persistence. The subtle complexities really creep up on you. Great concentration and crystalline focus. It is superb now and will richly reward cellaring" Huon Hooke, Real Review, Jan 2024

"This is really energetic with an excellent fruit and acid balance that gives the wine a tangy finish that lasts for minutes. Medium to full body. Lovely depth with sliced ripe green apple flavours and hints of hot stone. Hints of bread dough and steel gives this complexity. Flavourful finish" James Suckling, Jan 2024

"The 2022 Elston Chardonnay is mineral and taut in the mouth, with a fleshy pillow of fruit draped over it. It is ripe and soft, but the acidity is tense and salty. There is a lightness of touch here, which is very attractive. There are white flowers, yellow/cream-colored fruit and pretty orchard inflections (both flowers and fruit) through the finish. There’s a really nice flavor draw across the palate and through the finish" Erin Larkin, Dec 2023

Glowing a brilliant lemon-gold in the glass, Elston Chardonay ’22 overflows with ripe citrus, fresh brioche, and grilled hazelnuts. On the palate an impressive intensity of ripe nectarine and grilled lemon builds upon soft creamy nougat notes, adding a vibrant acidity, balance and focus. With exceptional length, freshness, purity, and a complex interplay of fruit and savoury notes, Elston Chardonnay ’22 is expressive and moreish – a remarkable embodiment of its terroir that exemplifies the quintessential qualities of this classic Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay.

The superb quality of the 2022 vintage was immediately apparent in the fully ripe grapes that were hand-harvested from their separate, individual plots within Te Mata Estate’s vineyards between 20 February and 10 March 2022.

Each parcel was gently whole-cluster pressed, cold settled and racked to new and seasoned French oak barrels for fermentation. The resulting wines remained in contact with their yeast lees, with a number going through malolactic fermentation. The finest lots were selected for further maturation, spending a total of 11 months in barrel.

Elston is named for Elston Hall in Nottinghamshire, the ancestral home of Charles Darwin’s family. Darwin’s ‘theory of natural selection’ forms the basis of modern evolutionary theory, the foundation of biology. The wyvern symbol of Elston Hall appears on the label.