Viticulture

The 2004 Chardonnay is the fourth release of this Estate Grown wine from the Staete Landt Vineyard in Marlborough’s Rapaura area. A completely different weather pattern ensured we were kept on our toes. The spring started of relatively cool with a few scary nights of frost warnings. It then settled into a very warm and dry period that allowed very good even flowering and consequently fruit set. This warm weather continued through to the last part of January when the weather became cool and relatively wet. This coolness continued throughout February, which caused some anxiety but did not affect the vines health! The final one and half months prior to harvest were ideal: warm and very dry often with very cool night time temperatures. The cropping level of the vines was adjusted to just below 2.5 tonnes/acre (43 hl/ha) during veraison ensuring that we obtained the best possible fruit with complexity and concentration. One of our Chardonnay clones also produces the phenomena of hen and chicken bunches where tiny grapes are associated with normal size grapes. This creates a high degree of concentration and complex flavours in every bunch.
The grapes were all hand picked from four different Chardonnay blocks comprising the two clones 15 and 95, both planted on different rootstocks and different soil types for further complexity.

Harvest Dates: 15 April till 21 April 2004
Brix: 22.8 – 24.3

Winemaking

Only hand picked grapes were used for this wine. These were whole bunch pressed to produce the finest most delicate juice. This juice was settled briefly before being racked straight to barrels to undergo fermentation. The wine was fermented in a mixture of 20% new French oak and 80% older French oak barrels.
A proportion of the wine was allowed an indigenous yeast fermentation adding complexity and extra mouth feel to the wine.
Following the alcoholic fermentation the barrels were stirred regularly until completion of the secondary malo-lactic fermentation. They were then aged on lees until they were eventually racked in July 2005. In all the wine was aged in barrel for 16 months. When racked the different component wines were blended and lightly fined and then kept in tank to clarify and to homogenize. Finally the wine was again racked in September 2005 given some polishing filtration before bottling.

Wine Analysis

Alcohol: 14%; Acidity: 6.4 g/l; pH: 3.3; Sugar: <1 g/l

Tasting Note

This wine was aged in 100% French oak barrels the majority of which were older and about 20% were new. This has produced a complex subtle wine that has intense peach, ripe nectarine like characters overlaying a creamy, hazelnut and slightly spicy character, rather than overt fruitiness. The wine is full bodied and elegant, with a dry and crisp finish.