Elephant Hill Reserve Chardonnay

2018, Hawkes Bay New Zealand

Only produced when quality hits their high, high standards
5 Stars (Raymond Chan Wine Reviews), 4 1/2 Stars & Top 10 NZ Chardonnays (Cuisine magazine)
"This is another wine that is showing its age beautifully and demonstrating a lean and reserved style of chardonnay" (Cuisine magazine)
Aged 12 months in French oak (25% new) with lees stirring, then a further five months on lees in tank to add richness, flavour and texture

Elephant Hill only release their sleek looking Elephant Hill Reserve Chardonnay when the quality hits the mark. When they say that, they mean it. These guys set the bar pretty high when it comes to quality. That might be something to do with their German owners, Roger and Reydan Weiss, that spare no expense in running this state of the art winery located on the stunning Te Awanga coastline, and boasts one of the finest winery restaurants in NZ!

So when the tip top 2018 vintage came along and gave the Elephant Hill crew some top notch fruit from their coastal Te Awanga vineyard, they got about creating their Reserve label Chardonnay.

They gave it the full whizz bang treatment behind closed doors – slow fermentation with indigenous yeast, aged 12 months in French oak (25% new) with lees stirring, then a further five months on lees in tank to add richness, flavour and texture.

The result? Well, what else would you expect but one seriously delicious, richly flavoured Chardonnay that they sum up simply by saying “The exceptional fruit purity, concentration and complexity are the
hallmarks of our Elephant Hill Reserve Chardonnay“. It’s got real potential to get even better over the coming years, throw a six pack in the cellar now and tuck into them between now and 2026.