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Buy OnlineSelected for the Hawke's Bay Annual Chardonnay Collection 2023
Winery notes (2023 Vintage)
"A single vineyard Chardonnay from Kaikora Vineyard in Ōtāne. Kaikora is the original name for the town of Ōtāne in Central Hawke’s Bay. The name was changed to avoid confusion with Kaikōura in the South Island. Kaikora Vineyard Chardonnay is a part of our project to highlight some of the most unique, small, single vineyards in Hawke’s Bay. Central Hawke’s Bay is known for the ancient Pakohe (argillite) forming the basis of the soil type. Kaikora Vineyard is planted on pakohe soils with clone UCD15 Chardonnay on its own roots.
The fruit was 100% hand-picked, then whole bunch pressed to French oak barriques for fermentation. The wine was fermented with indigenous yeast and then spent 11 months in oak prior to bottling; there was no fining or cold stabilisation.
Central Hawke’s Bay’s moderately cooler climate delivers fruit with a unique profile. Ripe fruit with some flint, hints of pink grapefruit and a firm backbone of acidity on the palate makes this wine a great food wine. Don’t drink it too cold. With time the wine will open up further developing a richer palate."
93/100 Erin Larkin, RobertParker.com, Wine Advocate, January 2025 (2023 Vintage)
"The 2023 Kaikora Vineyard Chardonnay is salty and spicy, with shaved fennel and salted peach, white flowers and ground white pepper. The wine is soft through the finish, in watercolor as opposed to oil, and this potentially fits with the wet conditions of the season. This is a remarkable effort given the conditions, and more than that, the year has gifted the wine with levity and lacy detail. This is a lovely wine."
Reviews for the 2022 vintage below…
96/100 Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, July 2024 (2022 Vintage)
"Woah, this one knocked me back a bit. A bit of struck match, lemon oil, nectarine, spice. Tight and flinty, intense core of acidity, runs from front to back with such power. Grapefruit zesty. So lively. Superb."
96/100 Jamie Goode, WineAnorak.com, August 2024 (2022 Vintage)
"This has a distinctive matchstick/mineral reductive note on the nose, which is really appealing, offering brightness and pure, zesty citrus fruit. The palate is lean and detailed with a mineral framing to the ripe but precise lemon, grapefruit and pear fruit. There might even be some pineapple tropicality here in the background. Such energy and focus to this wine: it’s quite brilliant."
95/100 David Walker Bell, WineFolio.co.nz, July 2024 (2022 Vintage)
"A step up from the previous vintage that was in the 2021 box. White peach, hay, weetbix, nashi pear, lemon peel and grapefruit scents. Quite tight and elegant on entry, but quickly blooms and shows an energy and intensity. Some fruit tannin and gravelly minerality underline the ripe fruit, with barrel spice notes supporting. A salinity to the acidity that flows right into the dry, concentrated finish."
5 Stars Michael Cooper (2022 Vintage)
"Is this the best wine yet from Central Hawke's Bay? Grown at Otane (Kaikora is the original name for the town of Otane), the youthful 2022 vintage was hand-harvested, and fermented and matured in French oak barriques (partly new). Bright, light yellow/green, it has a fragrant, citrusy, slightly smoky, complex bouquet. Full-bodied, it had deep, vibrant, citrusy, peachy, mealy flavours, finely integrated oak, good acid spine, and excellent vigour, poise and length. Best drinking 2026+."
