Prophet's Rock winemaker Paul Pujol produced precious little of this Chardonnay - just six barrels were made from hand picked grapes grown at Lowburn in Central Otago. The wine was fermented with wild yeasts and all up it received 15% new oak, with the remainder being older barrels. This wine is set to become a collector's piece, not least because it was inspired by and made in collaboration with a French winemaker. Prophet's Rock winemaker Paul Pujol and Burgundy winemaker, Francois Millet of Comptes de Vogue in Chambolle-Musigny joined forces to produce this fitting match to the outstanding Pinots from this wine brand.

A beautifully fragrant Chardonnay that fuses traditional and modern winemaking techniques; whole bunch pressing, barrel fermentation, barrel maturation on gross lees, and malolactic fermentation. The nose offers lemon, white peach, popcorn and fresh pineapple and leads to a palate of lemon curd, crème brûlée, toasted cashew and slight touches of flint and smoke. This is vibrant and juicy with refreshing acidity and plenty of concentration.

It's easy to taste why this is the top white from Te Kairanga winery in Martinborough each year. Dry, smooth and complex flavours of roasted nuts, stone fruit and fresh white peach combine with citrus purity in a deeply flavoursome wine.

John Martin is named after the late founder of the Martinborough township. This wine is made mostly Mendoza clone Chardonnay grapes, grown on the winery's Home Vineyard. All grapes are whole-bunch pressed and fermented with wild yeasts with 10 months maturation in French oak puncheons, which are 500 litre barrels. This wine goes through 100% malolactic fermentation, providing structure and length to what is a complex and refined wine.

Mills Reef Winery has a well deserved reputation for making some of New Zealand's creamiest, most approachable and delicious Chardonnays from Hawke's Bay grapes. This wine is a great example with its full body, dry flavours and creamy textures. 

Mills Reef winery is in Tauranga. Its owners source their grapes from Hawke's Bay and Marlborough.

Kumeu River Wines is New Zealand's top Chardonnay producer and best known globally. 

Kumeu River Estate Chardonnay is the flagship white from the winery. It is made from  grapes grown on six different vineyard sites in Kumeu and is consistently one of New Zealand's greatest dry, full bodied whites with outstanding freshness and complexity.

The winery is in the West Auckland village of Kumeu where it began life as San Marino Wines in 1944 when Croatian immigrant couple, Mick and Katé Brajkovich, bought a small property with a vineyard on it. Their descendents now own and run Kumeu River Wines, which produces 250,000 bottles of wine annually from its owns 30 hectares of vineyards in Kumeu and from another 10 hectares, owned by local grape growers. 

Vinification

All fruit is estate grown organically, with the majority of the clone being Mendoza. All our Chardonnay is hand harvested and whole-bunch pressed,
but they are lightly crushed first, this allows the juice to be extracted at very low pressures. Each parcel of fruit is kept separate and vinified and aged
individually. The juice is allowed to oxidise pre-ferment which makes the final wine more vibrant, long-lived and intensely flavoured as finished wine.
All parcels take most of the lees from pressing to barrel for wild fermentation and are aged in French oak with 25% being new. To keep the structure of
this wine, we allowed only 50% of the barrels to go through spontaneous malolactic fermentation, with no battonage. The total time in barrel is about
10 months before being combined into one blend in mid-February, The wine stays in stainless steel tank for 6 months on lees which allows for the acid
to become precisely defined and adds texture - then finished with no fining and only gentle filtration.

Wine
Green gold with silver flecks.
Aromas of grapefruit, orange zest, grilled white stonefruits, chared applewood with underlying peach blossom and oystershell.
Fresh citrus dominates with crunchy nectarine, crystalized pineapple, sweet baking spice and a saline minerality in support. A fine acid structure is
coated with a silky texture to give a long complex finish.

Te Mania Chardonnay is an elegant wine made with just a little oak to compliment and show case the fresh fruity flavours. This wine offers nectarine and ripe citrus aromas with just a touch of light oak. Stone fruit characters continue with citrus on the palate, complemented by a silky texture. The palate has appealing weight, texture and a long fresh finish.

Tony Bish's Golden Egg Chardonnay is one of the best in the country and  is fermented in an egg shaped concrete fermentation vat, which is designed to maximise the fullness and creamy style of Chardonnay at its smoothest, while retaining vibrant acidity. This is a stellar wine. One of the best from the Bay and from the country. Outstanding. 

This is an outstanding new addition to the much loved Esk Valley stable and it successfully straddles the big buttery Chardonnay style with all the subtleties that wine fans adore about the Chardonnay grape too - namely, its crisp, freshness. 

It is part of the new Esk Valley Artisanal Collection wines, which were launched this year and this one is made from clone 95 vines in Hawke’s Bay. The grapes were fermented in French oak with wild yeasts, which gives this wine its rich and nutty flavours, its seductive savoury notes and its full body.

The finished wine went through 50% malolactic fermentation with lees stirring to accentuate and lift the big flavours in this big wine.

Kumeu River Wines and the owners, the Brajkovich family, are icons of the New Zealand wine industry. This Chardonnay consistently over delivers for its modest price tag and is a dry, medium bodied wine with nutty, fresh, savoury elements derived from fermentation in old French oak barriques for 80% of the wine with the balancing 20% in stainless steel to preserve freshness. 

This wine is great drinking now as a fab go-to wine, any time.

Kumeu River Wines began life as San Marino Wines in 1944 when Croatian immigrant couple, Mick and Katé Brajkovich, bought a small property with a vineyard on it. Their descendents now own and run Kumeu River Wines, which produces 250,000 bottles of wine annually from its owns 30 hectares of vineyards in Kumeu and from another 10 hectares, owned by local grape growers. 

Tasting Notes
Aromas of ripe peach abound, with subtle undertones of buttery oak and a refreshing citrus acid backbone, adding layers of complexity. A balance of fresh fruit, malolactic and oak influences have resulted in a full bodied wine with stone fruit flavours, buttery, nutty notes and Meyer lemon freshness.

Winemaker's Notes
100% fermented and aged in older French oak barrels, sur lie. 100% MLF. 10 months in barrel before being blended to tank, ready for bottling.


Food Match
Roast chicken & mushroom risotto
Roast Salmon with herby cous cous salad
Butternut Squash Cannelloni

Form Jules Taylor...

Chardonnay is one of the unsung heroes of Marlborough but also a wine that can divide the room! Jules’ take on this variety is a far cry from the big buttery Chardonnay-bombs from the 1990s. Instead Jules prefers a wine with delicate freshness and attractive fruit flavours that express the vineyards in which they were grown. With only 10% new oak and a partial malolactic ferment, this elegant wine that will convert even the most die-hard chardonnay-basher!

Top value big buttery Chardonnay, full of appealing creamy malolactic flavours and buttery aromas adding softness, richness and depth to this intensely powerful Chardonnay, which represents fab value for money.

Clearview Estate founder and winemaker Tim Turvey has made some of Hawke's Bay best Chardonnays for decades and this big softie puts the big buttery foot forward for the world's most popular dry white wine. 

About Clearview Estate

Clearview Estate is one of oldest, most well established wineries in Hawke's Bay and is situated on the Te Awanga Coast, south of Napier. It's a great place to visit for tastings at the cellar door as well as lunch in the dappled shade of the established courtyard area. The winery was founded by Tim Turvey, winemaker and co-owner. The current winemaker is the multi talented Matt Kirby.