SAINT CLAIR OMAKA RESERVE CHARDONNAY 2024

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 (2024 Vintage)
"Concentrated aromas of spice, toasted cedar and savoury notes with a hint of vanilla. Generous and rich with a luxurious mouthfeel. The palate has a complex array of flavours with savoury notes, ripe peach, preserved lemon and a toasty finish.

Sourced primarily from Saint Clair’s vineyards in Marlborough’s Omaka valley where a combination of warm days, cool nights and clay based soils contribute to greater retention of fruit flavours. The fruit is a blend of Chardonnay clones, predominantly Mendoza and Burgundian Clone 95. The vines were monitored carefully during ripening and hand harvested at optimum flavour maturity and physiological ripeness.

The fruit was lightly whole bunch pressed and the juice fermented in a mixture of American and French oak barrels, seventeen 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."

5 Stars & 96/100 Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, March 2025 (2024 Vintage)
"Wonderfully styled with alluring complexity, the wine shows mango, apricot, vanilla, cedar, and almond meal characters on the nose. The concentrated palate exhibits outstanding weight and persistency, superbly enhanced by plush texture and beautifully pitched acidity, making it graceful and opulent. At its best: now to 2032."

5 Stars & 18.5+/20 (94) Candice Chow, Raymond Chan Reviews, March 2025 (2024 Vintage)
"Bright, even, pale straw yellow. The nose is gentle and elegant, with aromas of lemon curd, peach, and subtle almond and pastry details. Medium-full bodied, aromas of lemon curd, sherbet, grapefruit and peach entwined with flint, almond paste, vanilla and buttery creaminess. The wine is complex with well-balanced flint and creaminess; striking acid tension drives focus and length to a crisp and gratifying finish. Match with langoustine and turbot over the next 5+ years. Fermented to 13% alc."