Te Mata Estate Elston Hawke's Bay Chardonnay 2024

Description

Crème brûlée, Grapefruit, Oak

"Focused and textured, this is a beautiful follow-up after the terrific 2023. A powerful chardonnay that highlights the quality of the fruit. 100% barrel fermented and aged. Best value chardonnay in the World" James Suckling, Feb 2026

"Medium-full depth of brilliant yellow colour; powerful bouquet of honeycomb, sizzled butter and bread crust, wheat biscuit and cracked yeast, clean as a whistle—no reduction. The palate is bright and rich, medium-full bodied and ample in the mouth, the acidity lifting and carrying the flavour long into an extended aftertaste. A trace of tannin grip helps dry and lengthen the finish. Impressive chardonnay with a bright future. complexity, lively acidity and a persistant finish" Huon Hooke, Jan 2026

Sparkling with a pale white-gold hue, Elston Chardonnay ’24 immediately reveals its richness on the nose. Aromas of crème brûlée, toasted sourdough, and vanilla intertwine with vibrant notes of grapefruit and ripe yellow nectarine. Subtle layers of oyster shell, hazelnut, and flintiness add further complexity and intrigue. On the palate, it delivers a commanding presence—rich and textured yet finely balanced by a spine of electric acidity building delicious tension. The vivacious fruit sweetness combines elegantly with an energetic drive creating a wine of remarkable elegance and fantastic length. The 2024 vintage captures Elston Chardonnay in its ultimate form. Elston ’24 will continue to evolve in the bottle for eight years from harvest.

Elston is named for Elston Hall in Nottinghamshire, the ancestral home of Charles Darwin’s family. Darwin’s ‘theory of natural selection’ forms the basis of modern evolutionary theory, the foundation of biology. The wyvern symbol of Elston Hall appears on the label.

The superb quality of the 2024 vintage was immediately apparent in the fully ripe grapes that were hand-harvested from their separate, individual plots within Te Mata Estate’s vineyards between 26 February and 20 March 2024.

Each parcel was gently whole-cluster pressed, cold settled and racked to new and seasoned French oak barrels for fermentation. The resulting wines remained in contact with their yeast lees, with a number going through malolactic fermentation. The finest lots were selected for further maturation, spending a total of 11 months in barrel with 33% being new oak.