EASTHOPE FAMILY VINEYARDS TWO TERRACES CHENIN BLANC 2024

One of Three Wines Shortlisted for New Zealand White Wine of the Year 2026 – The Real Review

Rod Easthope built his reputation crafting some of New Zealand's finest wines during his tenure as Head Winemaker at Craggy Range. Today, alongside his wife Emma, he focuses on small-batch wines that showcase exceptional vineyards and meticulous winemaking. This remarkable Chenin Blanc from the celebrated Two Terraces Vineyard may well be his finest release yet.

This beautifully textured Chenin Blanc bursts with lemon pith, green apple and pink guava, underpinned by notes of pastry, spice and flinty minerality. Fermented and aged in cast stone concrete eggs, it combines precision, concentration and serious age-worthiness.

Winery notes (2024 Vintage)
"Our seventh release from the Two Terraces Vineyard and easily our most generous yet. The 2024 season threw everything at us—late budburst, cool winds, and a miserly fruit set. Yields were painfully low, but what remained was pure gold: small berries packed with intensity, ripened under a warm, dry Hawke’s Bay summer.

Pale straw with green flashes. The nose bursts with ripe apple, guava, a dusting of spice, and a whisper of almond icing. The palate is textured and concentrated, its length pulled taut by Chenin’s hallmark acidity.

100% whole bunch pressed to concrete stone egg tank. Left on yeast lees. Spring malolactic ferment. 11 months in Cast Stone concrete egg and used French Barriques."

5 Stars & 96/100 Stephen Wong MW, The Real Review, May 2026 (2024 Vintage)
"This finalist for New Zealand White Wine of the Year 2026 is not only remarkable value but also a glimpse into the future model of winegrowing for younger winemakers in the country. The fruit was grown by Ian and Linda Quinn of Two Terraces Vineyard and the wine was made by Rod and Emma Easthope. It was allowed to undergo a natural spring malolactic conversion while ageing for 11 months in cast stone eggs and old barriques.

Tight and precise with resounding acidity, this is notably taut and youthful. Linear in style but intensely concentrated, it twists with a kaleidoscope of lemon pith, green apple and pink guava which stains the palate with lingering perfume. Very backward and closed presently, it needs a lot more time to come together but there is clearly the depth to justify it. On the powerfully dry finish, notes of baking spice, pastry, cream, oyster-shell, white flowers and flint flash briefly across the tongue, hinting at the bounty that is to come."

4 Stars Cuisine Other Whites Tasting 2026 (2024 Vintage)
"A complex note of citrus, baked apple, grapefruit and a hint of smoky oak that comes through to the palate which is clean and mid weighted with a lovely tension and drive. The proud oak presence will appeal to many who like the style."

91/100 Erin Larkin, RobertParker.com, Wine Advocate, June 2026 (2024 Vintage)
"The 2024 Two Terraces Vineyard Chenin Blanc is delicate, waxy and floral, with herbal notes on the middle palate. This is spicy and true to the variety, with gently distinctive phenolics that shape the finish. This is good. The ripeness feels almost extreme, but it was picked just in time."