Cloudy Bay Chardonnay

Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc was the wine that put New Zealand on the world wine map but if you ask us Cloudy Bay Chardonnay is their unsung. It’s a world class white that oozes style and class.

It’s not just the Cloudy Bay reputation that’s big. This is a full bodied, big and complex style, a Chardonnay lover’s Chardonnay. Hand picked parcels of fruit from Cloudy Bay’s vineyards in the Brancott, Fairhall, Ben Morven and Wairau Valley sub regions in Marlborough. It’s 100% barrel fermented in French oak for 12 months and regular lees stirring for added complexity. They gave this one the works and boy does it show!

This 2020 vintage scored 5 Stars with local critic Michael Cooper who said “A powerful Marlborough wine with impressively concentrated, savoury, lemony, mealy flavours and a proven ability to mature well over the long haul. The grapes are sourced from numerous company-owned and growers’ vineyards at Brancott, Fairhall, Benmorven and in the Central Wairau Valley. The wine is fermented with indigenous yeasts in French oak barriques (typically 15 per cent new), lees-aged in barrels, and most goes through a softening malolactic fermentation. The refined 2020 vintage should be long-lived. Bright, light lemon/green, it has a fragrant, citrusy, mealy bouquet. Fresh, full-bodied and savoury, it has youthful, peachy, citrusy flavours, finely integrated oak, impressive vigour and complexity, lively acidity and a lingering finish. Best drinking 2024+.”

This is your wow-factor dinner party white for the now or one to stash in the cellar for the next decade and beyond.