Paritua Willow Hawke's Bay Chardonnay 2021

Description

• Seasoned oak
• Grapefruit & peach
• Brioche & melted butter
• Silky mouthfeel

"Gorgeously complex and enticing, the wine shows white flesh nectarine, nougat, lemon peel, brioche and roasted hazelnut characters. It's wonderfully weighted and richly textured in the mouth delivering succulent fruit intensity together with silky texture and bright acidity. Sophisticated and refined. At its best: now to 2028" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, May 2022

Ripe stone fruit aromas of peach with notes of grapefruit, freshly roasted cashew nut, brioche, and nougat, vanilla, with hints of melted butter, and baking spices. It has a silky mouthfeel with sweet fruit flavours of peach, Californian grapefruit and clove attack, in the rich textural mid palate with nougat and vanilla characters balanced by fine oak and a lingering citrus finish.

Grapes for the Paritua Willow Chardonnay were sourced from the Paritua Vineyard block, adjacent to the winery. Selected rows of clone 15 were hand leaf plucked, bunch thinned and harvested by hand.

Trays with whole bunches are placed in the winery coolroom for overnight chilling. A long slow gentle press cycle is used and pressing can take up to 3 hours. Free run juice is put straight to barrel for fermentation. The wines are lees stirred after ferment, and the wine remains sur lee until final blending. Half underwent malo-lactic fermentation, and total time in barrel was 12 months in 40% new oak with the remainder in seasoned oak.