Villa Maria Reserve Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2022

Description

Grapefruit, Oak, Vanilla

"Deliciously textural Chardonnay with impressive weight and length. Flavours include oyster shell, white peach, green apple and citrus/lemon curd. The wine is dry without being hard. Good food wine" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, The Real Review, Feb 2024

In youth, this concentrated wine is pale in the glass and displays aromas of ripe stone fruit, citrus flowers, and grilled nuts. Natural barrel fermentation influences have created flinty complexity and the finish is driven by a generous palate and succulent acidity. Cellar this wine with confidence for up to 5-8 years from vintage.

The grapes for this wine were grown on the Keltern vineyard (70%) and the Te Awa Vineyard (20%) located on the Heretaunga plains with the remaining 10% from the Kokako Farms vineyard in Ohiti Valley.

The 2022 vintage was warm but punctuated with several rain events towards the tail end of the growing season which saw an increase in disease pressure in the vineyards of Hawke's Bay. The grapes for this wine were harvested carefully early in the season to ensure good quality clean fruit could be harvested. This wine features a sensational collection of Hawke's Bay sites which are fastidiously managed to produce Reserve quality Chardonnay.

Hand harvested on different dates the various clones and sites provided an exciting array of blending options. Gentle whole bunch pressing allows for the finest quality of juice to be run directly into French oak barriques for natural fermentation. Once complete the individual parcels matured on yeast lees with regular battonage for up to 14 months. The finest barriques were then identified and blended and the wine was aged for an additional 3 months on full lees in stainless steel tank before preparation for bottling.