BILANCIA CHARDONNAY 2024

Winery notes (2024 Vintage)
"The 2024 vintage was a classic Hawke’s Bay growing season; a warm, dry settled summer, followed by a gentle Autumn, which was a bonus after the interesting 2023.

2024 Bilancia Chardonnay was sourced predominantly from an established vineyard on Ngatarawa Road with smaller volumes from two other Hawke’s Bay vineyards; la collina at Roys Hill and Two Terraces Vineyard at Mangatahi. The Chardonnay fruit was all hand picked, with each vineyard kept separate as ferments. Each parcel of fruit was whole-bunch pressed and the juice run straight to barrels from the press. The juice was fermented by indigenous yeast in all older French oak and the wine spent 11 months in these barrels prior to blending and bottling; there was no fining or cold settling.

The aim is to produce a wine that speaks of Chardonnay. It is a youthful wine, evenly structured with emphasis on a fresh, food-friendly style and balanced palate. Stonefruit and citrus on the nose and palate with texture, character, freshness and a line of acidity through the palate. This wine is ready to drink on release and will continue to develop and fill out for 4 – 6 years."

93/100 Stephen Wong MW, The Real Review, March 2026 (2024 Vintage)
"Predominantly fruit from an established grower on Ngatarawa Road with small contributions from both Two Terraces Vineyard and their La Collina Vineyard (which is where Tiratore hails from), it is all wild-fermented and aged in only used oak barrels. A silky-textured chardonnay with elegance and complexity, this has well-balanced flavours of stone-fruit, cashew butter, subtle vanilla and brioche which expand across the palate before finishing with some warming spice notes. Deliciously flavoursome and approachable already, it has a fairly broad window of drinkability with more nutty complexity to come."

James Suckling, Jamessuckling.com (2024 Vintage)
"Very pretty sliced apples, ripe pears and some lychees on the nose and palate. Medium-bodied with a creamy texture and a delicious finish. Drink now and enjoy."

91/100 Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, February 2026 (2024 Vintage)
"A juicy and flavoursome wine here. Dried apple, melon, mint and custard. It’s quite fruity, some tropical flavours, balanced acidity, though perhaps a little gluggy and greasy in texture too, a light chalky grip counters that, and the finish shows some salted pastry dough and offers good length. A bolder style that will appeal to those who seek a bit of extra richness and oomph in their Chardonnay."

91/100 Erin Larkin, RobertParker.com, June 2025 (2024 Vintage)
"The 2024 Chardonnay is pure and fine, with white peach melba, pineapple husk, layers of white pepper and green apple. This is silky and clean, with a creamy nuttiness on the mid-palate that provides textural complexity and width. It's chalky and very good. This wine features grapes from the single vineyards that don't make it into those final wines, with more textural pressings and skin contact, giving texture. No new oak was used, and there was only partial malolactic fermentation"