te Pa Reserve Auntsfield Chardonnay 2022

Reviews

Sam Kim, Wine Orbit: 95/100. 

Cameron Douglas MS: 94/100. Aromas of white and yellow peach, fresh red apple flesh, barrel spices and a sense of place with a dried clay and stony soil complexity. There’s a layer of leesy wood smoke and brazil-nut adding breadth to the bouquet especially. A satin-cream texture touches the palate first with flavours of wood and spices that follow immediately. There’s a youthful power from the tannins and acid line then the foundation core of ripe fruits layer in. Very new on the palate with plenty of vibrato in each flavour texture released. More complexity will fold in as this wine ages. Best drinking from late 2024 through 2029.

VINOUS - Rebecca Gibb MW: 90/100. The 2022 Chardonnay Reserve Collection Auntsfield Vineyard marks a step up in ambition, displaying the rounded, full texture of the clays of the Southern Valleys. Careful handling, from hand-picking and whole-bunch pressing to full-solids barrel ferment, has delivered a wine with clarity and texture as well as integrated tones of grilled nuts and flinty reduction. It is complex, citrusy, salty and lithe on the finish – almost good enough to eat.

Tasting Note

White peach and yellow grapefruit aromatics are supported by subtle cashew butter and citrus blossom aromatics. Some high-quality oak adds a wisp of flinty smoke and some vanilla pod, curry leaf, and butterscotch notes. The palate is beautifully textured, taut but elegant with a generosity of flavour. Almonds, preserved lemon, and spice flavours sprinkled over a core of vanilla bean infused crème Brulé. A delicate oyster shell minerality gives way to a long lingering finish.

Aromas and flavours:

Charakteristische Aromen:

Additional information

Wine type: White wine from New Zealand

Grape varial: Chardonnay

Alcohol: 13% vol

Food match: Chicken, pork, creamy dishes, crayfish

Vineyard: Auntsfield Vineyard, Southern Valleys, Marlborough. Naturally low-cropping mature vine Clone 15 is planted in the ancient Greywacke rock and Loess clay soils of this excellent chardonnay vineyard. The naturally cooler climate in the Southern Valleys intensifies flavours and aromas, whilst keeping bright acidity.

Vintage: Yet another warm season, with Growing Degree Days well above the long-term average. The weather at flowering was warm and settled so fruit set was good. Some rainfall in February led to a compressed harvest window. We started picking mid-March and all the fruit was in the winery by the 9th of April. The wines are aromatically punchy, pure fruited and elegant.

Winemaking: The fruit was handpicked and transported to the winery where it was whole bunch-pressed. The juice was left to settle very briefly before being racked to barrel with high solids. Once in barrel it was inoculated with a selection of yeasts - including nonsaccharomyces yeast strains - to add complexity and mouthfeel to the naturally occurring citrus and stone fruit expressions we get from this site. Natural, full malolactic fermentation occurred in spring. A selection of the six best barrels (1/3 of which were new) was made in February for this premium reserve wine. This wine was left in barrel until November before being carefully racked to tank for bottling, without fining or filtration.

Residual sugar: <1 g/l

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulphites

Cellaring potential: until 2029

Closure: Screwcap

Produced and bottled by: te Pa Family Vineyards Ltd, 515 Wairau Bar Road, R.D.3, Blenheim Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand

Distributor: vinabonus GmbH, Simmedenweg 40, 34134 Kassel, Germany