UNKEL LUTA ECHOES CHARDONNAY 2023

Rob and Kate Burley have since 2019 been organically farming a picturesque 5.5 Hectare vineyard in Nelson, planted with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris & Riesling. As the ‘Unkel’, they always allow the wine to do the talking, leading its own life through fermentation and ageing in the winery providing what they believe is the most honest expression of the fruit that they started with.

Luta wines are a recent addition to their Unkel Wines range & are wines made from a selection of barrels that they believe tell the story of the unique Moutere clays & the organic vineyards in which these vines are farmed. These are aged for longer at every step, from barrel to tank and again in the bottle, prior to release.

‘Luta’ – derived from Lutum, the Latin word for clay – pays reference to the Moutere clays where the grapes are grown.

Winery notes (2023 Vintage)
"Lemon balm, orange blossom and a hint of dried apricot lift from the glass, layered with biscuity notes and gentle old oak. The palate is creamy and saline, with citrus and stone fruit weaving through a poised, elegant finish.

Fruit was whole-bunch pressed and settled overnight before being racked to a mix of seasoned puncheons and barriques for fermentation. The wine rested on full lees for 10 months, then was transferred to stainless steel for a further 6 months before bottling."

Reviews for previous vintages below…

93/100 David Walker Bell, WineFolio.co.nz, October 2025 (2022 Vintage)
"A Chardonnay from the Moutere region of Nelson/Tasman. A pale golden-green colour in the glass. Perfumed with white peach, grapefruit, lemon, fennel, cashew nut, apple and smoky incense. Quite lean and tight in the palate, with zesty acidity matched to a crushed-shell minerality that is quite crunchy and ‘al dente’. Plenty of energy and drive. Further in, there’s more juice and texture that also has a little tannin adding an oatmeal, brioche character. The finish is crisply dry with good length."

93/100 Mike Bennie, The Wine Front, February 2023 (2020 Vintage)
"Smoky, struck match and crushed rock scents over lime, just-ripe peach, green apple. The palate is skittish in the best sense, lively, tight, crisp and then falls into a juiciness and stony finish. It’s got strong smoky things going, reduction here, but the crunch and drive of the wine is all about tightly round, zesty chardonnay fruit at a leaner end of the spectrum despite that juicy element. You’ll have to come at it with reductive characters in mind, but this marries fruit and that well."