Elephant Hill Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2017

Description

"Seductive and sensuous, this splendidly composed Chardonnay shows golden peach, rockmelon, lemon peel and brioche characters with nuances of vanilla and cedar. The palate is superbly weighted and expansive, delivering delectable fruit flavours together with stylish oak infusion, finishing persistent and creamy. It is opulent yet elegant with layers of fine texture. At its best: now to 2025" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Apr 2019

This wine is a balanced, well-structured Chardonnay showing great fruit concentration with lovely texture and a lingering finish.

Over the crucial summer months, Elephant Hill's Hawke’s Bay vineyards had some long dry days and relatively low humidity followed by perfect autumn weather. This allowed early ripening varieties such as Chardonnay to display wonderful fruit purity and elegance.

The wine is made with hand harvested grapes from the winemaker's coastal Te Awanga vineyard. The bunches were whole-bunch pressed to 228L oak barriques, 25% new. It is a wild yeast fermented Chardonnay which purposely did not go through malolactic fermentation and remained in barrel, on lees, for 11 months.

Established in 2003, Elephant Hill located within a stone’s throw of the Pacific Ocean on the idyllic Te Awanga coast of Hawke’s Bay on New Zealand’s North Island. The winemaking at Elephant Hill is driven by tradition while not losing sight of what innovation can bring to the blend. Their aim is to make wines that are balanced, elegant and a true expression of the vineyards they come from.