Quarter Acre 'Doc's Block' Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2015

Description

Subtle gunsmoke, toast and peach characters on the nose with lemon curd and a precise, taut palate.  The wine is chalky, complex, mouthfilling and packed with Hawke’s Bay.

We whole bunch pressed hand-picked fruit and ran the juice straight to new and seasoned French oak barriques, around 50% of which were new.  Wild ferment took a while to get underway, however once it got going it fermented hot and fast.  Around 20% natural MLF took off in spring and the wine then rested on gross lees for around ten months before it was bottled. With the mix of a moderate alcohol, low pH and bright acidity, this wine is going to age beautifully.

From Doc’s Block by the sea at Haumoana, these vines are about 20 years old and have previously served up some of Hawke’s Bays finest Chardonnay grapes.  Autumn 2015 was long warm and dry. Vine yield was kept below 2.0 kg per vine to ensure acid balance, flavour and intensity.