ATA RANGI CHENIN BLANC 2025

Winery Notes (2025 Vintage)
"Only 19 hectares of Chenin Blanc is currently planted in New Zealand. We are excited to produce our 2nd vintage in 2025. Sourced from the Redbank Vineyard on Te Muna Road and our own tiny parcel from the Walnut Ridge vineyard; our aim was to explore the characters of Martinborough Chenin Blanc in a dry style. Keeping winemaking as simple as possible and approaching it with the same use of older larger format oak barrels that we use for our other varieties, we feel this wine truly reveals the personality of the variety from our place.

Bright and breezy like a fresh spring day, is the uplifting feeling that the 2025 Chenin Blanc exudes. Aromas of elderflower, waxy lemon and firm nectarine define the nose. The palate is tangy and vibrant with notes of salted rockmelon and cucumber, intermingled with honeyed lemon. This wine beckons a good time and is built to last.

Fruit hand-picked and whole bunch pressed. Juice taken to large format barrels with minimal settling. Spontaneous native yeast fermentation and then ageing on lees for 11 months. Partial malolactic fermentation."

Rated Outstanding & 95/100 Cameron Douglas MS, May 2026 (2025 Vintage)
"An immediate varietal bouquet with scents of fresh and baked apple, some pear and fine lees complexities suggesting a finesse of baked goods then a fine clay earth quality. As the wine relaxes in glass and becomes more ambient the bouquet expands into flowers and blossoms. A dry wine with a satin touch and acid line that embraces the complexities of winemaking, vintage and variety. Delicious and complex, a wine that will deliver through the next 3-8 years. Best drinking from late 2027 through 2035+."

Reviews for the 2024 vintage below…

5 Stars & 95/100 Stephen Wong MW, The Real Review, Januray 2026 (2024 Vintage)
"The first-ever release of chenin blanc from Ata Rangi. Winemaker Helen Masters combined the fruit from the Redbank Vineyard in Te Muna with Ata Rangi’s own tiny parcel at Walnut Ridge Vineyard. Whole-bunch pressed and wild-fermented in large format barrels before ageing on lees for 11 months, this underwent partial malolactic conversion yet despite all of that, the wine remains tight, focused and intensely linear. The vibrant acidity completely hides its 3.7 grams per litre of residual sugar. This is one to keep for bottle development.

Piercing chenin blanc with sweet floral notes juxtaposed against steely minerality. Young and tightly coiled, the spine-tingling acidity carries a wave of perfumed ugli fruit and apple across the palate, culminating in a surf of oyster-shell, waxy floral and aniseed which evaporates over the bone-dry finish. Elegant yet resonant and concentrated, this will easily reward cellaring for many years."

96/100 Susie Barrie MW & Peter Richards MW (UK), Susie & Peter New Zealand Wines of the Year 2026 (2024 Vintage)
"Chenin Blanc certainly isn’t new to New Zealand, but this particular wine is. And it stopped us right in our tracks. We’ve long known what a terrific winemaker Helen Masters is, and she’s certainly created something extra special with her first ever Ata Rangi Chenin Blanc. We’ve tasted a few New Zealand Chenins over the years, and we’ve generally been impressed – but this is something else, and for that reason we couldn’t resist giving it our White Discovery award. The fruit is sourced from a couple of different Martinborough vineyards and the winemaking incorporates older, large-format oak barrels, as with other varieties in the Ata Rangi range. In terms of the actual wine, there are shades of white Burgundy here. It’s hugely engaging and just glides seamlessly across the palate, offering layer upon layer of unadulterated refinement and charm."