Charged with Chardonnays

What a great set of people the Neighbouring S.O.S. Group are. They help us out with excess wine, but often they are the reason to open some bottles and celebrate. An extended session involved a close look at three of our favourite Chardonnays.

The scene setter and near scene stealer was a 2009 Charles Wiffen Marlborough Chardonnay. A gold medal winner, and incredibly good value around the $25.00 mark. A little golden in colour, this filled the nose and palate with citrus fruit characters, toasty, nutty oak and a good whack of creamy, buttery MLF. The acidity was there, but this is now developing nicely and coming together with a seamlessness of texture. Beautiful and flavoursome to drink now and over the next couple of years. This was definably Marlborough, and more than excellent with it, and it hit the spot with the Neighbouring S.O.S. Group and SWMBO.

Next was the multi-Champion Wine of the Show winner, the 2010 Villa Maria ‘Single Vineyard – Keltern’ Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay. Now, surely, all those judges who have seen this wine over so many shows must know what they’re on about? Well, it surely is a cracker, but in the modern show-winning mould with plenty of the complexing sulphides. Nutty and flinty, bordering on OTT for me. The fruit restrained, more stonefruit and nuts. However, this had superlative concentration, drive and tension, the acidity perfectly judge, as is the oaking. Toast and char nuances just add another layer of interest to something that is jam-packed with it. But, curiously, it was not preferred over the Charles Wiffen. I myself found myself waiting for the reduction to subside with breathing, as I have seen it do so with other bottles opened, and it did, but for here and now, the earlier wine got the thumbs up. We all knew the Villa Maria was special, but today it seemed it will be one that will come into its own later. At around $35.00 a bottle, it’s a steal. So SWMBO & I have some stored away…

The final in the trio was the 2009 Ata Rangi ‘Craighall’ Martinborough Chardonnay. The most expensive at around $40.00. This was the ‘wow wine’ Back to a darker colour, but voluminous and mouthfilling with ripe stonefruit and exotic tropical fruit flavours interwoven with spicy, nutty oak and all wrapped up in a creamy, decadent structure. This had extra layers of flavour and nuances that immediately unfolded and revealed complexity. This is truly a great wine from a great vineyard site, and we all agreed it was the one to put first on style alone. It isn’t your modern affair, and it isn’t varietal or regional. Just great terroir, making great wine under the auspices of sensitive hands. It’s lovely now, but will keep another few years for sure.

The gathering could see all three wines were superb. We all agreed to disagree on our preferences when considering style and price. The discussion could have gone on for some time. So, we all took a step back, charged our Chardonnay glasses and toasted all three wines!