Esk Valley Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2019

Description

• Subtle oak
• Peach & grapefruit
• Butter & grilled nuts
• Complex & delicious

This is a medium bodied and elegant Hawkes Bay Chardonnay. Its flavour profile is a mix of peach, grilled nuts, grapefruit, butter and subtle oak spice. It is both complex and delicious.

The fruit for this wine was sourced from vineyards planted in three of Hawkes Bay’s many sub regions. Bay View fruit provides ripe stonefruit characters while the vineyard sites inland on cooler river terraces above the Tutaekuri and Ngaruroro Rivers bring acidity and flinty grapefruit notes. Shoot thinning, leaf plucking and bunch thinning are all practised in the pursuit of quality.

The individual vineyard parcels were harvested separately in early March and fermented in both tank ( 52% ) and French oak barriques. A small percentage was allowed to undergo malolactic fermentation to soften the wine and add richness and complexity. The finished wines were left on their yeast lees with regular stirring until blending in December 2019. No palate fining agents were utilised in the production of this wine.

Food Pairing: Ideally suited to rich seafood dishes or white meats such as pork or chicken, but equally delicious as an aperitif or with hard cheeses.