Muddy Water Chardonnay 2018

Straw in colour with flecks of gold. A complex nose of ripe pear, almonds and nutmeg revealing more layers over time. A palate with weight and texture highlighted by toasted caramel, grainy phenolics and long fresh acidity.

Organically grown on deep, fine textured Awapuni clay soils. Five clones were planted in 1993 and remain on their own roots. Vines are now of an age where they self-regulate low crop loads, leading to intensely flavoured berries. A long, warm ripening period produced ripe skins and seeds, and small, clean, super concentrated berries with rich phenolics. Individual rows were handpicked during cool autumn mornings.

We slowly pressed and fermented each of our small sub-blocks of Chardonnay separately to capture the best of each of our clones. 80% of our Chardonnay was settled overnight before a natural fermentation in fine grained French oak puncheons, while the remaining 20% was fermented without settling, incorporating full solid. All of our batches went through full natural Malo-lactic fermentation in puncheon and ageing on full yeast lees for 11 months. We estate bottle without fining. Vegan

Elevagé 11 Months French oak