2023 Emma Marris Chardonnay

Origin

Leefield Station Vineyard - Waihopai Valley, Marlborough, New Zealand.

Variety

100% Chardonnay.

Vintage

A warm and wet winter spurred an early start to the growing season with fully charged soil moistures and warm ambient temperatures in early spring. The few frosts through September and October did little to disrupt the healthy development of strong, lush canopies.Flowering began with cooler temperatures and periodic bouts of rain in the early summer, with the weather improving as we headed towards Christmas; typical with respect to warmth, sunshine hours and rainfall.Late summer warmth in late February and March along with careful canopy management, delivered slowly ripened, disease free, incredibly clean fruit!

Harvest commenced in mid-March. Due to the long, cool ripening season, fruit was harvested significantly later than usual but retained all of its vibrancy of flavour and crisp, ripe acids.The team are excited by the bright flavour expressions and huge diversity of character coming through in the wines of the 2023 vintage.

Winemaking

These Chardonnay grapes came from a selection of clones grown on our Leefield Station Vineyard in the Waihopai Valley. Hand-harvested and whole bunch pressed, the resulting juices were fermented on full solids in carefully selected French oak barrels.The young wines were left to mature on full yeast lees for a period of 10months, with occasional stirring to build palate weight. As the weather warmed in early spring, the barrels were encouraged to go through full malolactic fermentation to soften the acidity.

The parcels were blended and filtered in late summer before bottling in March 2024.

Analysis
Alcohol 14.0%
pH 3.25
Titratable Acidity 5.9g/L
Residual Sugar 1.1g/L
Vegan Certified

Tasting Note

With fine-boned citrus fruits, wildflowers and sea spray, this wine presents as delicate at first. White peach, vanilla, oyster shell and almond meal notes quickly follow. The fruit’s weight and power is balanced by tightly grained French oak; a seamless wine with tremendous length of palate.

Food Matching

A delicious match with Gordon Ramsay’s Grilled Octopus with Green Harissa.

Cellaring Potential

This Chardonnay is delicious in its youth but will continue to reveal more with time through to late 2030.