Man O' War Estate Waiheke Island Chardonnay 2018

Description

• French oak
• Stonefruit
• Nutty
• Intense

Man O’ War Chardonnay exhibits intense ripe stone fruit characters with subtle hints of toasty French oak and a lovely nutty lees influence.

Vintage 2018 began with a settled and dry Spring resulting in great flowering and a corresponding excellent fruit set. The vineyard then enjoyed a relatively hot summer although there were intense periods of rainfall thanks to ex Tropical Cyclone Fehi and Gita which put the pressure on during harvest time.

Temperatures remained warm into the harvest months increasing humidity however with careful attention to detail in the vineyard they were rewarded with excellent fruit.
To minimise the risk of disease pressure they carried out an early pick of their Chardonnay from their elevated hilltop vineyards which gives a fresh crisp edge to the wine and from their richer clay based sites we picked a little later and riper to provide wonderful flesh and richness and ripe flavours into the tropical spectrum.

Drawing from their experience in making Chardonnay they have found that maceration of the whole bunches before pressing increases the amount of grape solids in the juice all of which they retain in the juice for fermentation in barrel with wild yeasts. When fermentation is finished they add small amounts of sulphur at each topping to preserve the freshness and fruitfulness of the wine. They do not stir the lees or allow the wine to go through malolactic fermentation.

Food Pairing: Beautiful with fine rich fish such as turbot, grilled veal chops with mushrooms, late summer vegetables such as red peppers, corn, butternut squash and pumpkin.