Wairau River Reserve Marlborough Chardonnay 2021

Wairau River Reserve Marlborough Chardonnay 2021French oak Ripe stone fruit Brioche & vanilla Fine acidity "Wonderfully complex and engaging, the wine shows golden peach, nougat, brioche and cedar characters on the nose, followed by a superbly weighted palate offering excellent richness as well as refinement and sophistication. Impressively long on the finish with loads of enticing flavours. At its best: now to 2028" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Mar 2022 "A really lovely, calm, balanced and enticiing

• French oak
• Ripe stone fruit
• Brioche & vanilla
• Fine acidity

"Wonderfully complex and engaging, the wine shows golden peach, nougat, brioche and cedar characters on the nose, followed by a superbly weighted palate offering excellent richness as well as refinement and sophistication. Impressively long on the finish with loads of enticing flavours. At its best: now to 2028" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Mar 2022

"A really lovely, calm, balanced and enticiing bouquet with a full-rounded texture and familiar aromas of roasted peaches and baked apple, white apricot and vanilla, fine sweet wood scents and a clay stone mineral quality. On the palate - equally lovely with a fresh stone fruits, pineapple and vanilla custard woody quality. There’s complexity from the harmonious attributes of fine fruit and wood tannins, stone fruit and some grapefruit citrus flavours, some tension fron acidity and fine textures. Balnaced, well  made and delicious. great drinking from 2022 through 2026+" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Apr 2022

Grown in the stony soils of our Home Block, handpicked fruit was gently pressed into French oak, fermented spontaneously and aged for 11 months. Aromas of ripe stone fruit, flint and citrus zest integrate with bold flavours of vanilla and brioche. The palate is powerful yet elegant expressing the excellent fruit weight balanced by fine acidity.

Flowering commenced in the first week of December. During this period, the region experienced less than perfect flowering conditions which resulted in a lower-than-average potential yield. Balance of yield to canopy health was excellent. January, February, and March produced some of the driest months ever recorded with picking beginning in the last week of February and concluding in the last week of March culminating in one of the earliest vintages in the region and also one of the most exceptional harvests we have seen. The warm fine weather through the late summer provided exceptionally clean and healthy fruit, creating the a riper spectrum of tropical fruit flavours, this provided the winemakers with an extensive array of complimentary blending components from which to assemble some fantastic wines. The resulting wines from the 2021 vintage have wonderful fruit concentration aromatic power and defining elegance which are all hallmarks of this outstanding vintage. The elegance and poise seen from the 2021 wines will truly make this one of the most celebrated years for some time.

The grapes were carefully hand harvested in the early hours of the morning and returned to the winery in small bins. After gentle whole-bunch pressing in our basket press the juice was fermented in a mix of new and seasoned French oak. Free run juice was kept separate from the pressings and the wine underwent wild fermentation and then malolactic fermentation. After 11 months in barrel, the wine was blended and bottled on the Rose Family Estate.