Escarpment Winery Chardonnay 2024

SOURCED PRIMARILY FROM THE HOME BLOCK ON TE MUNA ROAD ON THE MARTINBOROUGH TERRACE. A CHARDONNAY OF DISTINCTION AND COMPLEXITY WITH STRIKING MINERALITY AND A TYPICAL VARIETAL CHARACTER REMINISCENT OF ITS TERROIR AND ESCARPMENT’S WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY.

W I N E M A K E R S N O T E S

One of the great Martinborough vintages, with a warm and dry summer. Yields were incredibly low, due to very poor flowering, but fruit quality was exceptionally high. The fruit is 100% from the Martinborough region, from the famous alluvial terrace and made from grapes grown on our own estate along with select growers. A mix of clones were individually whole bunch pressed, with the juice left to settle overnight. It was then transferred to French oak puncheons for fermentation, using indigenous yeast. After fermentation the wine was aged in barrel for 11 months with 22% new, creating a wine with ripe stone fruit characters, along with a flinty mineral backbone. It is a wine that is accessible in its youth but will also benefit from a few years in bottle.

T A S T I N G

Tasting

The nose is immediately appealing with baking spice, custard, mandarin, peach, and citrus. Flinty notes are also present, along with honeysuckle and freshly cut apple. The palate is bright and vibrant, with lots of ripe fruit to balance the acid that gives the wine drive. The warm year has given generosity, but the wine is still incredibly fresh and youthful, with lots of mouthfeel and texture. It is a wine that will benefit from some aging but is gorgeous in its youth, with a long and persistent finish. It is built around elegance and restraint, offering focus and persistence but also capturing the district’s unique terroir. It will evolve in bottle over the next 7+ years. Serve as an accompaniment to a cheese board or a dish based around chicken or white fish such as snapper. Serve at 12-13°C.