Paddy Borthwick Wairarapa Chardonnay 2022 - doz @ $35ea.
Chardonnay
2022
Buyers must be at least 18 years old and located outside a designated dry zone to purchase alcohol.
Aromas of ripe yellow peach, pineapple, and honey nougat. Wild fermentation in oak giving a creamy, soft pallet, lightly spiced oak and hazelnut flavours finishing with pear and citrus. This wine shows depth of fruit and great palate weight reflecting the great ripening season. Enjoy now or cellar for 6 years.
Whole berry pressed; minimal settling then transferred to French puncheons; fermentation was completed using natural wild yeasts. The wine underwent minimal malolactic fermentation, which was carried out by our indigenous bacterial culture. The wine is aged on yeast lees for 10 months before being selectively blended, fined and filtered. Aged 10 months in French oak puncheons of which 20% were new.
93 points - Sam Kim