Swamp Reserve Chardonnay 2017

Brand new release of one of NZ's classic wines.

Winemakers Notes

The vintage conditions in 2017 in Hawkes Bay were challenging, to say the least. Only the best, hand harvested fruit from our Middle Road Chardonnay block goes into our Swamp Reserve Chardonnay, and as a result we made three very careful passes through the best part of the vineyard. This fruit was refrigerated and trucked to Auckland for processing. The three parcels were kept as separate batches right up until assemblage in January. We made a further selection before bottling and ultimately used about 75% of what we had harvested. The balance went into our Limeworks Chardonnay. Ultimately, this wine is 100% barrel fermented, close to 100% MLF and used around 30% new French oak barrels.

Analysis

Alc	13%
Acid	6.7 g/L
Res sugar	2.2 g/L
pH	3.46

Tasting Notes

Colour:	Pale in the glass as a young wine, but will develop pale gold tints with time in the bottle.
Bouquet:	Year after year the fruit from this vineyard exhibits ripe lemon and grapefruit characters. This is interwoven with subtle oak and lees and MLF derived creaminess.
Palate:	Harmony and balance have become two of the hallmarks of our Swamp Reserve style. This wine has fineness and structure, yet is also incredibly complex and long.

Cellaring
Our Reserve Chardonnays drink beautifully after about 12 to 18 months, and then cellar out to around five years in the correct environment.

Food Matches
Full flavoured chardonnays are great food wines, especially richly flavoured meat dishes such as lamb, pork and duck, and seafood - crayfish, salmon and trout. Accompanying sauces could include citrus, apple, nuts, mushrooms and aromatic herbs.

Independent Reviewer's Comment

Suggested Wine List Description
Full, rich and complex white wine, with delicious sweet fruit flavours, well balanced with nut and oak tones and great length of flavour.

Awards