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This is one of our favourite and most popular quality chardonnays we've ever sold. From vines planted in 1993 and the key to this quality is a unique vineyard site. Blacks vineyards are located on a limestone subsoil in Waipara ( on which many great French vineyards are situated- Chablis, and Burgundy ). Limestone not only controls yields but imparts into the wines complex, minerally characters that add an extra dimension to the overt fruit characters of most N.Z wines. "Fruit from 16 y.o. Mendoza clone vines, hand-harvested and whole bunch pressed, barrel-fermented with indigenous yeasts to 14.2% alc., the wine undergoing MLF and aged 11 months in oak, 36% new. Bright, full, light golden, straw-yellow colour, this has a bold and broad nose of ripe, yellow stonefruits, melons, and mealy nuanced fruit with good nutty, toasty oak. This is a full-bodied, open and accessible wine with brassy, ripe peach and citrus fruit flavours and equally expressed nutty oak backing. There is plenty of power and depth, and along with the acidity, the wine has the structure to keep well over the next 4-5 years, offering enjoyment all that time. Match with firm flesh fish, rich poultry and roasted pork. 18.0-/20 Raymond Chan ( senior wine judge )
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