Home > Wine by Range > Select Vineyards Wines > 'Big & Buttery' SV Gisborne Chardonnay 2018

'Big & Buttery' SV Gisborne Chardonnay 2018

NZ $23.75

GOLD MEDAL WINNER A blast from the past?

SKU 01023

Category Select Vineyards Wines, Hawkes Bay, Chardonnay and Blends

Description

Winemakers Notes

In 2018 we again used Delwyn and Doug Bell’s Clone 548 Chardonnay to craft the Big and Buttery. This is a dry-grown block in their vineyard on Back Ormond Road, just out of the city of Gisborne. The wine was fermented in American oak barrels (just over one third new). 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 went into barrel on 15^th March 2018 and came out of barrel on 26^th February 2019 – so 11 months in oak.

Analysis

Alc	13%
Acid	6.6g/L
Res sugar	3g/L
pH	3.30

Tasting Notes

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.

Cellaring
Already approachable, but will cellar happily into the medium term in a cool environment.

Food Matches
The oak ageing makes this wine an excellent match with full flavoured rich dishes, in particular poultry, pork, salmon and crayfish.

Suggested Wine List Description
Cellar door (& on-line) only, won't be on any wine lists!

Independent Reviewer's Comments
“For those who want to “relive the 80s”, this is a bold chardonnay style, fermented and aged for 11 months in American oak barrels (33% new). Bright, light yellow/green, with a fragrant, toasty bouquet, it is mouthfilling, with balanced acidity and strong, youthful, peachy, toasty flavours.” Michael Cooper

Awards