Elston Chardonnay is one of the icons of New Zealand wine – since the first vintage in 1984 Te Mata have been refining the wine style, tweaking the techniques and understanding the vines resulting in something quite special with every vintage release.
Winery notes (2022 Vintage)
"Elston is named for Elston Hall in Nottinghamshire, the ancestral home of Charles Darwin’s family. Darwin’s ‘theory of natural selection’ forms the basis of modern evolutionary theory, the foundation of biology. The wyvern symbol of Elston Hall appears on the label.
Glowing a brilliant lemon-gold in the glass, Elston Chardonay ’22 overflows with ripe citrus, fresh brioche, and grilled hazelnuts. On the palate an impressive intensity of ripe nectarine and grilled lemon builds upon soft creamy nougat notes, adding a vibrant acidity, balance and focus. With exceptional length, freshness, purity, and a complex interplay of fruit and savoury notes, Elston Chardonnay ’22 is expressive and moreish – a remarkable embodiment of its terroir that exemplifies the quintessential qualities of this classic Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay.
The superb quality of the 2022 vintage was immediately apparent in the fully ripe grapes that were hand-harvested from their separate, individual plots within Te Mata Estate’s vineyards between 20 February and 10 March 2022.
Each parcel was gently whole-cluster pressed, cold settled and racked to new and seasoned French oak barrels for fermentation. The resulting wines remained in contact with their yeast lees, with a number going through malolactic fermentation. The finest lots were selected for further maturation, spending a total of 11 months in barrel."
5 Stars & 96/100 Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, January 2024 (2022 Vintage)
"A wonderfully styled chardonnay offering elegant opulence with graceful complexity. The inviting bouquet shows ripe peach, rockmelon, lemon pith, cedar and brioche nuances, followed by a richly textured palate that’s succulent and focused. Brilliantly structured by fine acidity, finishing expansive and impressively long. At its best: 2025 to 2037."
5 Stars Michael Cooper, February 2024 (2022 Vintage)
"One of New Zealand's most illustrious Chardonnays, Elston is a stylish, intense, slowly evolving wine. At around four years old, it is notably complete, showing concentration and finesse. The grapes are hand-harvested from mature vines grown in hillside vineyards above the winery at Havelock North, and the wine is fully fermented and matured for nearly a year in French oak barriques (partly new). Bright, light yellow/green, the 2022 vintage is highly fragrant, mouthfilling and savoury. Still youthful, it is a refined, vigorous wine, with deep, vibrant, stonefruit flavours, gently seasoned with toasty oak, and a rich, finely poised finish. Best drinking 2026+."
93/100 Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review, March 2024 (2022 Vintage)
"Rich, power-packed, creamy-textured chardonnay with lemon curd, oyster shell, sizzled butter, and yellow-fleshed peach. Accessible, deliciously textural wine with an appealing thread of vibrant acidity."
Reviews for the 2021 vintage below…
94/100 Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, October 2022 (2021 Vintage)
"Almond, cinnamon, nutmeg, green tobacco, a little gun smoke, nashi pear and nectarine. There’s some real lemonade flavour along with dried pear, a pleasing crunch and freshness to acidity, a friand and dried coconut richness, and a bright finish of excellent length. Very good Chardonnay. Ticks a lot of boxes, you might say."