ISABEL ESTATE SINGLE VINEYARD CHARDONNAY 2023

Gold Medal – The National Wine Awards of Aotearoa New Zealand 2025
Gold Medal – New Zealand International Wine Show 2024 & 2025

Winery notes (2023 Vintage)
"The Isabel Estate Single Vineyard range represents a distinctive expression of each season from our beloved Wairau Valley home in the Marlborough region. Sourced exclusively from our estate and with a commitment to sustainable viticulture, we craft wines of precision with unique character, complexity and elegance.

Picking commenced with some of our younger vine fruit and was completed with the picking of our old vine Mendoza clone fruit. Each clone being picked at optimal ripeness, while also maintaining good acidity. All fruit was whole bunch pressed and settled in tank overnight before being transferred to a mixture of barrels and puncheons for 100% wild fermentation. The wine was left to age in barrel and undergo 100% malolactic fermentation. After 11 months in barrel the wine was blended in tank where it aged on lees for a further five months before being filtered and bottled.

These wines benefit from a sustainable viticulture and winemaking approach and epitomise the region’s reputation for world-class and award-winning wines This Chardonnay is a wine of elegance, complexity, depth and class. Characters of white nectarine complemented by intriguing gun smoke and flint, vanilla bean and French oak toastiness will delight even the fussiest of Chardonnay devotees."

92/100 Erin Larkin, RobertParker.com, Wine Advocate, December 2024 (2023 Vintage)
"The 2023 Single Vineyard Chardonnay is concentrated and yet fine, with layers of white-flesh orchard fruit, salted nuts, beeswax, lemon pith and brine. There's a creaminess to the mid-palate that I saw upon revisiting this wine, which does add complexity. In the mouth, the wine is languid, opulent and yet underpinned by taut acidity. It's a lovely experience drinking this wine."