Mt Beautiful North Canterbury Chardonnay 2016

Description

"Bright straw-yellow colour with light lemon-green hues, paler edged. The nose is soft and harmonious with gently entwined aromas of fresh white and yellow stonefruits and subtle barrel-ferment and nutty oak elements, and hints of minerals. This is refreshing and mouthwatering in expression. Medium-full bodied, the palate is fine in proportion with bright, lively and vigorous flavours of yellow stonefruits and citrus fruit, entwined with subtle creamy barrel-ferment and nutty oak detail. The palate has a rounded core with moderate firmness, and the wine flows along a soft-textured line with refreshing acidity lending tension and energy. The flavours carry to a lingering finish of stonefruits and nutty oak. This is an elegant, lively and vibrant Chardonnay with stonefruit, citrus and nutty oak flavours with a fine core and fresh mouthfeel. Match with seafood, poultry and pork over the next 4 years. Hand-picked fruit, WBP and fermented in 300 L hogsheads, a portion new, with tank-fermentation , to 13.5% alc., the barrel portion undergoing partial MLF and all of the wine aged 10 months on lees. 1,300 cases made" Raymond Chan, Apr 2018

With aromatics of ripe apple and white peach, this lovely Chardonnay has a creamy texture that makes it easy to drink. Medium bodied with underlying notes of roasted almonds and nectarine confit, it finishes clean and crisp with a lovely persistent flint like minerality.

2016 was the best vintage yet of the Mt Beautiful Chardonnay. The fruit for this wine was hand picked in three different batches according to ripeness. It was then gently whole bunch pressed, resulting in beautifully clear and delicate juice which is ideal for barrel and tank fermentation alike. The barrel portion was reserved for the wines with the best depth of fruit and ripeness of flavour, and was fermented in 300 litre hogshead casks (both new and one to two years’ old). The barrel fermented wine went through a partial malolactic fermentation. Both tank and barrel batches were aged for 10 months on yeast lees prior to blending in February. They were then lightly fined and filtered prior to bottling.

This Chardonnay is planted on the most Northern part of the vineyard and is hand tended and hand harvested. The clones are a mixture of French clones B 95 and 2/23 grafted onto rootstock. The vineyard is in charge of dictating the flavour profile of the Chardonnay, so far yielding peachy stone fruits and creamy almond flavours. The first vintage was 2013.

Food Pairing: Pair the Mt. Beautiful Chardonnay with roasted chicken, salmon dishes, Coquille St. Jacques, and a playful perspective about life.