Chardonnay

Beautiful Chardonnay with full bodied, creamy smooth flavours from the Kiwiw king of Chardonnay, Tony Bish, of the Urban Winery in Hawke's Bay. This beauty is made from 100% Mendoza clone Chardonnay grapes grown in two areas in Hawke's Bay; the Upper Dartmoor and Bay View. All of the grapes were hand harvested and 95% fermented in barrel with 5% in Tony's new French oak ovum. The wine was then matured for a year in 25% new Taransaud oak with regular lees stirring (aka batonnage) to enhance the creamy expression of barrel maturation. 

This wine is one of only two in New Zealand to make it onto the 2020 Top 100 Wine Discoveries by leading wine authority Robert Parker.

Powerful, full bodied, smooth and balanced by beautiful crisp citrus and white peach flavours. This is one of Hawke's Bay's great Chardonnays from Tony Bish, who has carved a niche for himself as king of Chardonnay in the Bay, where he devotes his winemaking talents entirely to Chardonnay. 

This wine is made from dry grown Mendoza Chardonnay grapes grown on Skeetfield Vineyard. All grapes in this wine were hand harvested and whole bunch pressed with minimal settling followed by 100% barrel, 100% indigenous yeast fermentation and matured for 12 months in Taransaud French oak. Lees stirring accentuates body, freshness and depth of flavour in this lovely wine.

The 2019 Zen is the best vintage yet produced of this outstanding full bodied, nutty, creamy, new world take on one of the great classic wines of the world. 

Tony Bish is Hawke's Bay best known, most dedicated Chardonnay specialist and Zen is his top wine. He has forged a name for himself as Hawke's Bay's king of Chardonnay and he named Zen after a challenging year because he felt zen when making it. The grapes all come from the highly rated Skeetfield Vineyard in the Bay and the wine was aged in a Taransaud oak ovum, a large egg shaped fermentation vessel, which was made specially for Tony, to create a full bodied, elegant, smooth Chardonnay in an environment that optimises lees contact during winemaking. 

Typically fresh aromatics of quality Hawkes Bay Chardonnay are evident including citrus, white flowers and stone fruit. These are complemented on the palate by a creamy richness from aging on lees. Roast hazelnut, almond and hints of gunflint result from the indigenous fermentation in barrel.

Trinity Hill - The structure has a tight shape with the finesse and concentration that are hallmarks of Trinity Hill Chardonnay. It displays delicacy but richness and the beautifully linear acidity makes it a fantastic match with food.

An excellent partner with white meats and seafood dishes.

Winemaker David Clouston blended grapes from The Spring and Brookby Hill vineyards to make this full bodied, creamy, big Chardonnay, which was fermented using indigenous yeasts with lees stirring and full malolactic fermentation.

Maturation for 11 months aging in new and seasoned French oak barrels as well as a concrete egg adds smoothness and savoury flavours to this wine, which was bottled unfiltered. 

If you're a fan of big buttery styles of Chardonnay, try this taste sensation from Marlborough.

A great wine made in tiny quantities from the cool North Otago Waitaki Valley where hot days, cool nights and a long growing season produce high quality grapes in small volumes. The Valli winemaking team of Grant Taylor, Jenn Parr and Karl Coombes hand harvest all their grapes, whole bunch pressing them to barrel, including 22% new oak. Full solids with lees stirring during maturation for 12 months gives this wine body to burn and a lingering flavoursome finish comes from the high acidity from this edgy cool climate, nicely balanced by all that lees aging. A beautiful complex Chardonnay to drink now or to cellar. 

The Vasse Felix Filius Chardonnay is pale straw with a green tinge in the glass. The nose is lifted, elegant and complex with honey nougat, pineapple and lemon notes. The palate is restrained and complex with some creaminess coupled with natural acidity. Notes of lemon pith with hints of lime and toasty vanilla carry on to a long, dry finish.

Full bodied, citrusy and creamy with smooth complex oatmeal, hazlenut and ripe white peach flavours. A delicious Chardonnay from a vineyard inside the Ihum?tao volcanic basin on the edge of the Manukau harbour in Auckland. 

Free draining soils and a unique soil profile lead to the production of a very distinctive Chardonnay.
This wine displays bright lemon and straw hues in the glass. The nose offers a complex array of aromas including white peach, fresh grapefruit zest and roasted cashews. A textured, layered palate unfolds revealing further complexity, mealy notes and lovely linear acidity with a long elegant finish.

Smooth, full bodied, dry and creamy... This is one of New Zealand's top Chardonnays from Villa Maria's great Keltern Vineyard in Hawke's Bay.

Chardonnay with all the bells and fresh citrusy flavour notes adding depth and balance to the smooth creamy notes. Here's a wine that shows how exceptionally well Chardonnay grows in Marlborough. 

French oak, Gisborne grapes and a great hillside vineyard make this full bodied, weighty, oatmeal tangy Chardonnay one of the jewels in Villa Maria's crown. McDiarmid Hill Chardonnay is 100% Gisborne grown fruit in this big beautiful wine which was fermented with wild yeasts to a bone dry style and had 11 months oak ageing with lees stirring to build softness and weight to the textural, long palate. 

Chardonnay that straddles both styles of creamy flavours with crisp fresh appeal. It's dry, medium bodied and refreshing; a great match for roast chicken or any chicken dish and a delicious example of Chardonnay from Marlborough.

Whitehaven Wines began life in 1994 as a romantic business for a couple of corporate escapees, Sue and Greg White, who had given up life in the rat race of Auckland for another kind of life aboard their yacht. When sailing around the country, they took shelter in the Marlborough Sounds from Pacific storms and fell in love with the region. An easy thing to do when harbouring in the spectacularly pristine waters of the Sounds. They decided to settle there on terra firma once more and try their hands at wine production, hiring a winemaker and beginning a business which has now been around for 26 years. Greg has sadly passed away now, leaving a legacy as well as his wife and daughter, Sam, to run the winery.

Their winemaker is Peter Jackson.