This wine is great value for money from winemaker Simon Waghorn, who says Chardonnay is his first love in wine. He makes this creamy, dry and citrusy version from four different clones of Chardonnay, all grown on his family's home block vineyard. 

All grapes were hand picked, whole cluster pressed fermented with wild yeasts in barrel followed by lees aging in French oak with battonage (stirring of the lees). The result is a full bodied wine offering impressive depth and layers of stonefruit and citrusy flavours at a relatively modest price. 

The story of Astrolabe

Diversity, history and family ownership are among the reasons to try the outstanding range of wines from Astrolabe, which was founded in 1996 in Marlborough by winemaker Simon Waghorn and his partner in life and wine, Jane. 

Simon has forged a reputation for being one of New Zealand's most respected producers of aromatic white wines after winning an almost embarrassingly long string of awards for his Sauvignon Blancs. He has also forged a name for adventurously diverse winemaking - he produces dry flinty whites from the most southern vineyard in Marlborough at Kekerengu on the coast about an hour's drive south of Blenheim. He is the only winemaker to produce wines from here. 

He is also one of the few in this country to make Albarino, Chenin Blanc and a consistently outstanding range of wines from the organically certified hillside sloping site that is the Wrekin Vineyard in Marlborough. 

The winery remains family owned and is now run by two generations, including Simon and Jane as well as their adult daughters.