HALCYON DAYS BIG LITTLE THINGS CHENIN BLANC 2024

Winery notes (2024 Vintage)
"We were really excited to have a second fruit allocation in 2024 from Ian and Linda Quinn, who farm the excellent, certified organic Two Terraces vineyard out at Mangatahi.

Ian and Linda farm their rows with an exceptionally high level of care and detail, producing some of the best grapes in Te Matau a Māui~Hawke’s Bay. We are thrilled to be releasing our second still wine from the Two Terraces vineyard: our Big Little Things Chenin Blanc 2024.

We love working with Chenin Blanc. It has fantastic acid, texture and fruit flavours that span green apple and citrus, all the way to stonefruit, spice and honey. The wines also age and evolve beautifully in the bottle.

The 2024 harvest came on the tail of a great growing season that produced very small yields. As a result, the wines from that year are very fresh yet concentrated.

Both clones (220 and 880) were hand-picked in mid-March 2024. The bunches were predominantly destemmed, with only a small portion of whole-bunch fruit thrown into the mix. Fermented in an open-top fermenter on skins and with very gentle extraction, the wine was then pressed after 10 days’ maceration to tank where it finished alcoholic fermentation and completed malolactic fermentation.

The wine was then aged in tank for one and half years, spending an additional six months in bottle prior to release."

93/100 Stephen Wong MW, The Real Review, July 2026 (2024 Vintage)
"A low-intervention wine from organic chenin blanc grown at Two Terraces Vineyard in Mangatahi. It is the second year that Amy and Olly Hopkinson-Styles have worked with this fruit. It was fermented wild in open-top tanks, with a small portion of whole-bunch fruit retained. After 10 days of maceration, it was all pressed off to complete fermentation (both alcoholic and malolactic). It was aged in tank for 18 months before bottling.

Hazy, glowing gold. It announces its low-intervention intentions with layers of zingy citrus, beeswax, linden leaf, spiced apple and grapefruit seed, all framed by notable tannins with a refreshing twist of amaro. There is a whisper of lambent volatility under the acidity but everything coils together tightly on the finish, resulting in a racy and exhilarating ride. The showy expressive nature of the fruit makes it approachable already but it should have no problems ageing in bottle by virtue of its structure and concentration if desired, and the phenolics will soften with age."