Forrest Chardonnay 2022

Aromas of lemon, peach, oat biscuit, toffee apple, toasted almonds, freshly ground spice and subtle nutty oak lead to a rich, weighty palate, balanced with a seamless acidity, ensuring longevity.

Fruit intensity and flavour complexity are determined in the vineyard; here we exploit known flavour differences between Chardonnay clones and two distinctly different vineyard sites. The Wairau River Valley; gravel rich, free draining and devigourating soil profile and our Southern Valleys vineyard, a very special site with geologically older soils composed of crushed river stones, intermixed with clay.

The grapes were machine harvested over a 7 day period, with 50% of the press free-run juice being put into new and older oak barriques for high solids primary and secondary malolactic fermentation prior to 10 month yeast autolysis maturation. The remaining 50% of the juice was cool fermented in stainless steel tanks with some oak staves and aged with yeast lees stirring.

The grapes were machine harvested over a 7 day period, then crushed, pressed and put into a mix of new and old oak barriques for high solids primary and secondary malolactic fermentation, prior to 10 month yeast autolysis maturation.