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Buy OnlineBlack Estate winemaker Nicholas Brown has been awarded 2022 NZ Winemaker of the Year by Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine
Winery notes (2021 Vintage)
"This Black Estate Home Young Vines Chardonnay was grown on our 12 Ha vineyard located 6 kilometres North East of the Waipara Junction, in the Omihi sub-district of Waipara Valley, North Canterbury. This is a north facing sedimentary clay fan on a gentle hill side slope, which sits above the original older Chardonnay vines.
All grapes were whole bunch pressed over a 4 hour press cycle. 35 percent was foot crushed and soaked on skins for 5 hours. The pressed juice was transferred without settling to seasoned 500L barrels made from tight grained French oak. No additions were made to the juice except vineyard derived yeast propagated from a vineyard starter from the Home vineyard The wine matured on fermentation lees and then went through full Malo-lactic fermentation in early spring. The wine was blended to tank after 7 months in barrel, allowed to settle for one week and then bottled without fining or filtration. 30 ppm of sulphur dioxide (sulphites) was added.
Pale straw/white gold hue. Fresh, delicate aromas of white peach, almond, flint, and vanilla. The palate is concentrated with apple, nectarine, lemon peel and honey with vibrant saline characters. This is an unfiltered wine with small amounts of sediment. Please allow the bottle to stand and settle before pouring. Decanting will allow maximum expression of aroma and purity of fruit to emerge. Drink now to 2028."
Reviews for previous vintages below…
Rated Excellent & 93/100 Cameron Douglas MS, April 2021 (2020 Vintage)
"Pure, fresh, bright, delicate yet distinctive with aromas of lemon and peach, golden apple, a light flinty mineral core and fine lees and nut bouquet. Crisp, tense, fruity, flinty and dry on the palate with a vibrant core of flavour and texture, mineral and wood spice, lees and mix of citrus and stone fruit flavours. I found this wine easy to enjoy on its own and with food. Could be cellared for 1 to 2 more years, but is equally fine for drinking now and through 2025."
5 Stars Yvonne Lorkin, March 2021 (2019 Vintage)
"Certified organic and gloriously golden in the glass, this slightly cloudy, seriously sexy, citrus-saturated unfined, unfiltered chardonnay from the great folk at Black Estate. The fruit is handpicked and the ferment is kickstarted by yeasts present in the canopy itself then 100% fermented in barrel, given some cool, dark, sleepy time in those barrels, then gently eased into the bottle a year down the track. The result is a generously juicy, pineapple and peach-packed chardonnay stitched together with grapefruit gorgeousness and tangelo-induced tension. So so good!"
