One Off The Skinny Hawke's Bay Chardonnay 2019

Description

• New French oak
• Toffee & crème brûlée
• Peach & citrus peel
• Silky mouthfeel

"Youthfully charming and delightfully lifted, the bouquet shows peach, baked fig, mango and nougat characters. The palate delivers excellent weight and roundness together with creamy mouthfeel and bright acidity, leading to a gorgeously long vibrant finish. Elegant, complex and engaging" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Mar 2020

"Made from organic grapes fermented on their skins and neither fined or filtered (could throw a sediment). Fragrant, ethereal chardonnay with floral, peach, nutmeg and spicy oak flavours. A silken-textured wine with an impressively lengthy finish" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Oct 2020

Light golden in colour, it’s a combo of oolong amber tea and citrus peel, a hint of ginger and the burnt toffee bits of a good brûlée. Made from a new French Chardonnay clone, with all the flavour in the skins, winemakers decided to go natural and see what happened…fermented on skins, no fining, no filtering, not perfectly clear but it smells and tastes wicked!

Harvested from the winemakers inland vineyard, planted on an ancient river terrace on the Ngaruroro River. This clone of Chardonnay shows some interesting and attractive Muscat characteristics which we decided to try and accentuate.

The harvested fruit was destemmed into an open top fermenter and the grapes were not crushed or pressed but treated gently throughout their fast ferment. They were pressed off a little sweet and allowed to finish ferment in tank and neutral oak leaving a little sugar behind. The wine rested on lees until September.

Food Pairing: It will be best enjoyed served lightly chilled and with food to match the nature of the tannins. That’s the skinny.