Tuatara Bay Marlborough Chardonnay 2024

Description

Melon, Oak, Spice

"It’s nicely fragrant on the nose with ripe apricot, rockmelon, lemon peel, and elegant oak characters, followed by a succulent palate that’s smooth and rounded. The wine offers youthful fruit flavours with appealing complexity, making it delightfully drinkable. At its best: now to 2027" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Mar 2025

Fragrant with ripe stone fruit and a touch of lifted oak spice. A round and textural wine with a generous full to mid palate from malolactic fermentation. Crisp, dry and beautifully textured. Made with fruit from select vineyards in Marlborough.

The wine underwent fermentation with staves before a secondary malolactic conversion which gives it that subtle oak and creamy nougat flavour. This wine is drinking well now and will continue to develop complexity over the next few years.

Mythology tells us that when the oceans in the heavens became too warm then mango (the shark) and tuatara (the great lizard) came down to earth in search of cooler waters. They argued between each other until it was decided that the tuatara would reside on land. Today the almost extinct tuatara is still found on Stephens Island in the Marlborough sounds, not far from the world-famous Marlborough wine region.

Food Pairing: Fabulous with roast chicken or creamy pasta.