Te Whare Ra Marlborough Chardonnay 2022

Description

Almond, Grapefruit, Oak

"Beautifully composed with elegant complexity, the wine shows ripe stone fruit, rockmelon, lemon peel, nougat and almond meal nuances on the nose. The palate displays excellent weight and presence, splendidly framed by creamy texture and finely pitched acidity, leading to a persistent, expansive finish. At its best: 2025 to 2034" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, May 2024

"Youthful and taut bouquet with scents of grapefruit and white peach, red apple and flinty stony qualities. The youth and power, some concentration and drive, purity of fruit and tension in the style. On the palate a delicious wine driven by the flinty red apple and citrus qualities then layers of spice and mineral from soil and a light measure of oak. Acidity and fine fruit tannins deliver a perfect mouthfeel and freshness, while the core fruit flavours tease out the breadth and complexity. A wine to keep in the cellar for another 18 months to 2 years then imbibe from 2026 through 2030+" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Apr 2024

"Green apple, sweet herb and celery seed aromas create a salivating backdrop for the mid-weight palate with concentrated, crisp white peach and grapefruit flavours that coat the flinty, pithy structure of this expressively mineral wine. The acidity emphasises the greener parts of this chardonnay but also gives it great drive and length. Stylish and quite 'Chablisien' in interpretation" Stephen Wong, Master of Wine, The Real Review, Feb 2025

Lifted aromas of pink grapefruit, toasted almond, and white stone-fruit are complemented by some lovely savoury notes, with some white florals and hints of spice. These aromas follow on to complex, fleshy palate with real depth of flavour including grapefruit, and ripe stone-fruit as well as some savoury, mineral notes. Well integrated oak and a lingering, ripe acidity complete this wine.

The growing conditions here in Marlborough, mean that it is well-suited for the production of world class Chardonnay. We have a relatively cool climate which results in a long, even growing season which is great for flavour development. This means that we can make a style of Chardonnay which balances concentration and complexity, whilst retaining the finesse that a higher natural acidity brings – which is unashamedly the style we like to drink! This 2022 release is a blend of the 2 clones of Chardonnay we have planted on our TWR home block here at the winery. We have the Mendoza clone planted in 1979 plus a small amount of Clone 6 that was planted mid-80s. The wine is made using traditional techniques.

Over the spring of 2021 we experienced great conditions over flowering which led to moderate crops and a nice, even set which always bodes well for very balanced, harmonious wines. We had no issues with frost and the summer that followed was generally dry and very even with no big heat spikes. We did experience some rain towards the end of February which gave the vines a nice boost to see them through till the beginning of harvest. We have described it as “the Goldilocks vintage” in that it was quite similar to the 2020 season = not too hot, not too cold, just right! The very even growing season meant that our harvest began on track with our long-term averages in mid - March and was completed by the first week in April. The resultant wines are very impressive with great depth of flavour and fleshiness whilst still exhibiting lovely purity of fruit, bright aromatics, and ripe, juicy acidity. This 2022 Chardonnay is drinking well now but we are consciously making a style that will benefit from some bottle age, so it will also develop with careful cellaring for 4-6 years. 

All fruit for this wine was hand-picked and then hand-sorted. The grapes were destemmed, crushed then gently air bag pressed, soft pressings were included with the free run juice. Juice was run to tank for settling overnight and then filled to oak with light solids the next morning. All the parcels for this 2022 release were fermented in large format French oak demi-muids (25% new). All parcels spent a long time on full lees to provide added texture and complexity. All parcels underwent MLF and were in barrel for 10 months before final blending. This wine has not been fined and is suitable for vegans and vegetarians and anyone else who loves authentic, hand-made wines.