Mills Reef Bespoke Hawke's Bay Chardonnay 2021

Description

Butterscotch, Cream, Oak

This sumptuously soft and opulent Chardonnay from one of our premium vineyards in Hawke’s Bay is simply a delight. Beautifully balanced toasty French oak envelops the white stone fruit and creamy butterscotch notes. Bold flavours and silky smooth texture, lead into an alluring hint of aniseed and ginger spice that lingers on the finish.

The grapes for this classical variety were sourced from one of our premium vineyards in the Hawke’s Bay region: the low vigour free-draining alluvial loams of the Ohiti wine growing district.

Harvesting of the chardonnay grapes was on the 7th of April with optimum ripeness, condition, and flavor profile.

After a gentle pressing the juice was left to naturally settle over 24 hours. A selected yeast was for used for inoculation with fermentation happening with 50% new French oak, and 100% undergoing malolactic fermentation to achieve an integrated buttery texture.  Thereafter the wine spent ten months on yeast lees with frequent stirring for enhanced complexity. The final wine was lightly fined, then rested for a month before bottling under screwcap on the 11th of May 2022.