A blast from the past?
Select Vineyards Wines, Gisborne, Chardonnay and Blends
In 2022 we again used Doug Bell’s Clone 548 Chardonnay to craft the Big and Buttery. This is a dry-grown block in their certified organic vineyard on Back Ormond Road, just out of the city of Gisborne. The wine was fermented in French oak barrels. Once the primary fermentation was finished, all of the barrels then went through a secondary malolactic fermentation. This imbues the wine with buttery notes. The wine spent 9 months in barrel before being fined, filtered, and bottled.
| Alc | 14% |
| Acid | 5.1g/L |
| Res sugar | 3g/L |
| pH | 3.38 |
| Colour: | Pale gold in the glass at bottling, but will slowly deepen with time. |
| Bouquet: | Stonefruit and melon backed by vanillary oak and a buttered pop-corn character from the MLF. |
| Palate: | Big, rich and weighty, yet with elegance and finesse. |
“Upfront and opulent, the enticing bouquet shows grilled stone fruit, pineapple, butterscotch and cedar characters. The palate delivers excellent fruit intensity with creamy texture and well-pitched acidity, finishing generous and delicious. At its best: now to 2026.” Sam Kim, 2023
| 5 Stars/93 Points | Wine Orbit, April 2023 |
Previous Vintage Tasting Notes - Download PDFs
2018 
2017 2016
