Chris Scott The Briny Wink Tuki Tuki Valley Chardonnay 2024

Description

Floral, Lemon, Mineral

"Still very youthful, it is a tautly structured wine, likely to be long-lived" Michael Cooper

"A whiff of flint greets the nose. Restrained yet floral, this ultra-modern chardonnay has a core of powerful green olive and citrus flavours tightly wound around the very driven yet silky acidity which provides both structure and length. As the wine slowly expands across its very long finish, it unfolds to reveal delicious layers of lemon curd, hazelnut cream, sea shells and delicious, lees-derived flavours of flaky pastry all arrayed across a bed of salt and chalk. Not at all a bombastic wine, this sinewy and racy wine is nevertheless, impressively concentrated and will easily reward cellaring" Stephen Wong, Master of Wine, The Real Review, Mar 2026

"Dry and minerally to taste, with a crunch of fruit and buoyed by a stony acidity that drives you through the palate. Medium-weight with a tight concentration of flavour, and artfully balanced" David Walker-Bell, Winefolio

This is the lightest, most ethereal of the trio of 2024 Chardonnay’s, almost Chablis like in its structure and fragrance. Aromas of lemon zest, acacia flower, citrus blossom, and flinty oystershell lead into subtly richer notes of fresh fig and a background lick of roasted almond. The palate is medium weight, gentle with an airy freshness yet not insubstantial. It finishes with a slate like dryness and a wisp of savoury salinity that draws out the palate.

The Briny Wink takes its name from a whimsical literary inspiration: Lewis Carroll’s 19th Century poetic personification of a wise old oyster, who winked his eye, shook his head, and chose to remain in his bed. It is a name aptly suggestive of the whispered influence of the ocean, past and present. The cooling sea breeze, the transformation of an ancient sea bed into the surrounding limestone crags (abundant with fossilised shells), and the slow erosion of those hills that has helped form the calcareous clay soils in which these Chardonnay vines now grow.

Grown on a gentle slope in the lower Tukituki Valley, this area is close to the coast and relatively exposed to the cooling afternoon sea breeze making this the coolest and latest ripening of our three sub regions. Soils consist of a shallow clay loam over a hard calcified clay pan, resulting from limestone erosion. Whether it is this limestone influence, the cooling sea breeze or both, Chardonnay from this site is characterised by a wisp of flinty oystershell and a touch of savoury salinity that conjures up a sense of the sea.

This is a vineyard I have worked closely with for many years. It is without a doubt, one of the best Chardonnay vineyards in New Zealand and we were delighted to secure a small allocation of fruit for our own wines from the top end of the block, mid slope between river to the west and the crest of the hill to the east. Here, topsoil gets shallower and whiter in colour with more clay content. It is very low porosity and holds tightly to water through capillary action, making it less available to vine, while the clay pan restricts root volume and increases inter-vine competition making this a naturally devigorating soil.

2024 was an exceptional Chardonnay vintage in Hawke’s Bay, with warm sunny weather and regular summer rainfall events, the vines went into an extremely dry harvest season with healthy green canopies and good overall balance. Crops were naturally very low and this has translated to a natural underlying power in the wines. The warm growing season led to one of the earliest ever Chardonnay harvest in Hawke’s Bay and fruit was picked in pristine condition with vibrant flavours and fresh natural acidity.