Collaboration Wines Aurulent Hawke's Bay Chardonnay 2020

Description

• French oak
• Stonefruit & itrus
• Butterscotch
• Beautiful acid backbone

Generous stone fruit, citrus and mineral notes interwoven with fine French oak and underlying mealy, butterscotch tones. Layers of complexity and depth, finishing dry and fresh, with a beautiful acid back bone and a streak of minerality.

Grapes were sourced from Kokaho vineyard in Ohiti Valley (70%) and from Ascot vineyard in Havelock North (30%). The Kokako vineyard lies in the Ohiti Valley, uniquely positioned next to the Ngaruroro River and surrounding mountain ranges. The valley experiences very warm days and cool nighttime temperatures. This diurnal shift in temperature produces grapes with naturally high acidity and intense citrus flavours. Formerly an old riverbed the soil consists of silt loam over river gravels. Resulting wines typically show a flinty minerality, with intense citrus notes.

2020 was warm, long and dry with cool nights resulting in wines of real depth, richness, character and excellent cellaring potential.

Hand-picked, whole bunch pressed, natural ferment, 100% malo-lactic fermentation, aged in barrel on lees 11 months, new (30%) and old French oak, individual barrel selection to taste. Unfined & light filtration.

At Collaboration Wines small is beautiful and this ethos informs everything they do from vine to bottle. Proprietor and winemaker Julianne Brogden, is the one woman driving force behind Collaboration Wines, working with a handful of dedicated Hawke’s Bay growers to craft fine wine. Being small enables an approach rooted in a high attention to detail and an obsessive focus on quality that produces memorable wines, which express the vineyards they originate from.