Lawson's Dry Hills Reserve Marlborough Chardonnay 2017

Description

"Generous and creamy with attractive warm and toasty aromas. The palate is captivating. A polished and delicate wine with lovely juicy fruit flavours, that are accented with attractive oak and some botanical notes" Cuisine Magazine, Issue 196, Sept 2019

The nose shows a lovely complexity with brioche, lemon, subtle floral notes, flint and smoky oak. They palate has a gentle power with lovely focus from the fine, citrussy acidity. The predominant fruit character is lemon which is overlaid with chary French oak and mealy, wild ferment characters. Although delicious in its youth, this wine will reward the patient wine lover over the next four to eight years.

The grapes for this wine are from our Chaytors Road Vineyard where coastal see breezes moderate temperatures and allow gentle ripening. This block is situated on the banks of the Wairau Diversion where the silts and river stones are a perfect match for our 16 to 20-year-old Mendoza clone chardonnay vines.

These grapes were hand-harvested and whole-bunch pressed. The juice was briefly settled before being racked to French oak barrels (25% of them new oak). The juice was allowed to ferment ‘wild’ and then encouraged to undergo full malolactic fermentation which softens the acidity from sharper malic acid to the softer lactic acid. The wine was racked from barrel and carefully blended prior to being bottled here at the winery.

Food Pairing: Full-flavoured seafood dishes, chargrilled white meats, roasted chicken dishes, pork, roasted vegetables especially pumpkin, creamy sauces, richer shellfish, coconut-based curries, risotto, slightly stronger cheeses such as English cheddar, sweetcorn, roasted capsicum and more.