Saint Clair Block 10 Twin Hills Marlborough Chardonnay 2023

Description

Almond, Oak, Spice

"Excellent colour, bouquet and palate with core flavours of sweet grapefruit and white peach, there’s a layer of minerality and spice then apple and new-ish French oak complexity. Nice weight and mouthfeel with excellent texture from acidity and fine tannins, some mineral highlights and lengthy even finish" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Nov 2025

"A fresh and peachy chardonnay, given lift by lemon curd and floral notes. The palate tempers the sweet perfumed fruit with pithy grapefruit phenolics and roasted hazelnuts but the wine remains largely in the upper register and sits high in the mouth. Mid-weight but elegant, it finishes with a decadent note of fresh cream. It will develop more complexity in bottle but will be best in the near- to mid-term" Stephen Wong, The Real Review, Feb 2025

An elegant French barrique fermented Chardonnay with flavours of ripe stonefruit, roasted almond and toasty oak. Pale straw. Perfumed aromas of stonefruit and lemon curd with toasted oak and lifted spice. This wine will continue to evolve and develop complexity over the next five years and beyond. Nine months maturation on lees in French oak barrels has assisted with creating a rich creaminess and fine tannin structure.

Fruit was predominantly sourced from the valley between twin peaks in Marlborough’s Southern Valleys sub-region. This is a warmer site than in some other areas of Marlborough with good diurnal temperature changes which contributes to greater retention of fruit flavours.

Grown on clay-based soils, the vines are Mendoza and Burgundian Clone 95. The vines were monitored carefully during ripening and fruit was harvested at maximum flavour maturity and physiological ripeness. 

The fruit was partially handpicked and whole bunch pressed to ensure the vineyard characters and fruit flavours were preserved. The juice was barrel fermented in 100 per cent French oak (16 per cent new oak barrels) using selected yeast strains. The wine underwent malolactic fermentation, followed by nine months aging on yeast lees with regular stirring. Only the best barrels were selected for the Twin Hills Pioneer Block wine.

Food Pairing: Seared chicken breast with pine nut salad.