NZ-Wide 
NZ-Wide
Free Shipping
Buy OnlineGold Medal – Chardonnay du Monde 2024, Burgundy, France
A brand new release and already making waves on the International scene, winning New Zealand's only Gold medal at the Chardonnay du Monde awards held in Burgundy, France.
There is nothing shy about the Omaka Reserve, Saint Clair's top Chardonnay. Selected from only the very best barrels, this is big and mouth-filling with plenty of weight on the palate. This has ripe stonefruit, smoky oak flavours in abundance. Unusually for a New Zealand Chardonnay, this is fermented in American Oak rather than French – this gives the wine more vanillin characters like many Californian Chardonnays. However, unlike the Californian Chardonnays, this also has a more complete savoury mineral character.
Winery notes (2022 Vintage)
"Perfumed aromas of charred oak, white peach and citrus with a hint of warm spice. Generous and rich with a creamy and textural mouthfeel. Flavours of white fleshy stonefruit and meringue combine with citrus notes and a hint of spice on the lingering finish.
The fruit was lightly whole bunch pressed and the juice fermented in American oak barrels, fourteen per cent of which were new, using selected yeast strains. The wine underwent malolactic fermentation, followed by nine months aging on yeast lees with regular stirring. Only the very best barrels were selected for the Omaka Reserve Chardonnay."
4 Stars Cuisine Chardonnay Tasting, August 2023 (2022 Vintage)
"A fruit-forward style with lots of lifted citrus on the nose alongside delicate orange blossoms. The palate, too, is bright and light with peaches and pastry set against toasty smoke notes. Not overly complex but, as so often is the case, simplicity done well pleases the majority."
(Note from Vino Fino – this was obviously judged as a newly bottled wine as extra time in the bottle has seen the wine fill out and become more like the notes on the 2021)
Reviews for previous vintages below…
95/100 International Wine Challenge 2023, Judges Comment (2021 Vintage)
"Flinty mineral style overlayed with tropical melon and passionfruit overlayed with deftly balanced vanilla, spice, cedar from oak. Incredible poise and concentration, long toasty finish."
94/100 Bob Campbell MW, February 2023 (2021 Vintage)
"This is Saint Clair’s top chardonnay, given the Rolls Royce treatment to make the very best wine possible. Rich, creamy, smooth-textured chardonnay with white peach, nectarine, vanilla, hazelnut and wood-smoke flavours. A bold, mouth-filling wine with satisfying intensity and pleasing energy. Should develop well with bottle age."
