Kidnapper Cliffs / Hawkes Bay / 2014 / Chardonnay

Kidnapper Cliffs / Hawkes Bay / 2014 / Chardonnay

A full bodied yet elegant style of Hawke's Bay Chardonnay exhibiting notes of grapefruit, lemon curd and stone fruit characters with an underlying flinty complexity. Rich and textural in the mouth, the wine has a fresh acidity offsetting the toasty oak which all contributes to a generous yet elegant style Chardonnay.

 

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Cellaring is recommended but the wine can equally be enjoyed in its youth. Drink 2017 - 2024+
$54.99 ea Buy 6: $46.74 ea

The Winemaking

The individual vineyard parcels were hand-picked and then made the short trip to the winery where they were whole bunch pressed where the juice went straight to French oak hogshead barrels. From these barrels, 40% were new and the balance two or three years old. The juice was then left for natural fermentation from the indigenous yeast that inhabits the cellar, creating a wine that is both complex and textural. Naturally, some of the barrels underwent malolactic fermentation which has added weight and richness to the wine. After ten months in barrel and fortnightly battonage throughout the ageing period, the wine was then blended and bottled.

The Vineyard

This wine is blended from three different clones of Chardonnay (Mendoza, Cl95, and UCD15) grown on the Te Awa Estate vineyard in Hawke’s Bay. With the Estate straddling the edge of the Gimblett Gravels and Bridge Pa Triangle sub-regions, there is a diverse range of soil types within the Te Awa vineyard. The Chardonnay is grown predominantly on the silty Bridge Pa soils, the rest being grown on the more stony Gimblett Gravels side of the vineyard. This diverse soil profile combined with the three different clones produces a Chardonnay that is both layered and complex, with varying degrees of ripeness and fruit flavour contributing to the final blend.

Vineyards:
Te Awa Vineyard, Hawkes Bay
Clonal Selection:
Mendoza, C195, UCD15
Vintage Detail:
An excellent Hawkes Bay vintage. Dry settled conditions allowed for steady sugar and flavour accumulation with optimally clean and ripe fruit at harvest. Selective hand picking was employed to maximise quality.

The Numbers

Destemmed:
0%
Handpicked:
100%
Oak Use:
French oak Hogsheads, 40% new

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