Villa Maria Keltern Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2019

Villa Maria Keltern Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2019French oak Peach & nectarine Vanilla custard Baking spice "Rich and highly concentrated Chardonnay with peach, nectarine, apple, fresh baguette and nutty oak flavours. Fruit sweetness is perfectly balanced by ripe acidity. A delicious wine that promises to get even better with bottle age" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Jul 2020 "Bright, light yellow with some depth, youthful, even colour throughout. The nose is graceful with power, aromas

• French oak
• Peach & nectarine
• Vanilla custard
• Baking spice

"Rich and highly concentrated Chardonnay with peach, nectarine, apple, fresh baguette and nutty oak flavours. Fruit sweetness is perfectly balanced by ripe acidity. A delicious wine that promises to get even better with bottle age" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Jul 2020

"Bright, light yellow with some depth, youthful, even colour throughout. The nose is graceful with power, aromas of stonefruit and burnt vanilla custard; entwined with buttered toast, almonds, prickly oak spices and dusty mineral. The aromas are poise with good concentration. Medium-bodied, lemon curd, lemon sherbet and stonefruit; along with ginger, nutmeg spices, subtle nuts, toasty oak detail. The acidity is lacy and seamless with great tension, flows smoothly along. The texture is ethereal; smooth and silken across the palate, with a fine layer of dusty phenolic, enlivened by the spices and citrus pith on the back palate. Taut acid cut carries the wine to a very long, sustained finish. This is a finely-crafted Chardonnay with immaculate detail and acid tension and balance. Ready to drink now with a long time ahead, one to savour. Match with crayfish and turkey stuffing over the next 6-8 years. Fruit from Keltern vineyard, 85% Clone 15, 15% Clone 548. Handpicked, whole bunch pressed. Fermented with wild yeast to 14% alc. Aged 11 months on lees in French oak barriques, 40% new. No MLF" Candice Chow, Raymond Chan Reviews, Jul 2020

Displaying a brilliant straw and lime-tinted hue in the glass, the nose offers a fragrant and complex medley of white nectarine and subtle complexing sulphides, complemented by underlying notes of flint and toast. A sleek, tightly woven palate gradually unfolds, leading to a finish with genuine length and class. This wine will develop further complexity, mineral and toast like characters with careful cellaring.

Located east of the Maraekakaho region in Hawkes Bay, directly in the path of cool air currents flowing from a mountain range to the west, the Keltern Vineyard is an inland site, buffered by the Ngaruroro River. Established on an ancient riverbed planted in 1999, the vineyard has silt loams layered over red metals, including large free-draining gravel stones. Vines range in age up to 17 years, mainly cl15, cl95 and cl548, and at maturity are pruned and thinned to one bunch per shoot to target 6-7T/Ha.

2019 was an exceptional Hawkes Bay vintage. Moderate yields in Chardonnay combined with warmer than average temperatures and dry settled conditions encouraged the majority of fruit across the region to achieve optimum ripeness and maintain excellent condition through to harvest. Hand-harvesting enables a minimal intervention winemaking approach, allowing Keltern’s unique characteristics to shine.

The Keltern Vineyard was established in 1999. Sitting east of Maraekakaho and hugging the western edge of the Bridge Pa Triangle and the Ngaruroro river, this unique site has over time become synonymous with Chardonnay, earning it’s pace amongst New Zealand’s finest with an un-paralleled consistency in blind tasting success across multiple formats since the initial 2002 vintage.