Description
Mr Whirly says:
” Mr Whirly ventured into a bottle last week and loved it. It’s still fresh and energetic on the nose and more importantly the palate. Rich honey and peach notes, with clarity and purity throughout and when tasted the next day was just as good if not better. Good sign.”
Winemakers notes:
” This wine is produced from Chardonnay grown on the selected vineyard sites in the Kumeu area. The grapes are hand harvested and whole bunch pressed. Barrel fermentation takes place with indigenous yeast to produce a wine that is fragrant, richly textured and has a distinct sense of place.”
Michael Brakkovich
Tasting notes:
Michael Brajkovich is very confident that 2014 will come to be regarded as one of the greatest vintages ever for Kumeu River Chardonnays.
The Estate Chardonnay was barrel matured for 10 months in 100% French oak, of which 20% was new. After a further 6 months ageing in stainless steel tanks, the wine was bottled in August 2015.
This is probably the finest vintage of Estate Chardonnay that we’ve ever tasted (and we’ve tasted every one back to inaugral 1985 vintage). A pale lemon colour. Clean, pure, flinty and mineral on the nose. A hint of woodsmoke. Lovely, ripe, plush Chardonnay fruit, well defined. Amazingly fresh, clean and zingy on the palate. Smooth-textured but structured. There is fatness and weight yet it is steely and lean at the same time. Brilliantly balanced. There is real tension here in the acidity, yet superb complexity and richness. A long mineral finish. Outstanding.
4000 cases produced.
The 2014 Estate Chardonnay shows a little more new oak than the other vintages, touches of vanilla pod and crème fraîche infusing the citrus fruit and later peach skin and clementine. The palate is well balanced and concentrated. This Estate Chardonnay displays an appealing roundness and more viscosity toward the finish, which reveals discreet walnut and fumé notes. There is a sense of completeness to the 2014 and I can see it aging with real style. Superb. Tasted at the Kumeu River Chardonnay vertical in London.Score: 93Neal Martin, vinous.com, February 2019
£24.50
750ml 13.5 % alc vol
