2015 Jules Taylor Chardonnay Marlborough

The fashion for chardonnay used to be the big, buttery, oaky wine. Do we care for fashion? Pah! This is a wine that is fresh and has great fruit flavours that expresses the vineyard without the winemaker’s boots stamping all over it.

Winemakers notes

This fragrant chardonnay exhibits stonefruit and butterscotch aromas layered over spicy notes with a hint of smoky oak. The partial wild and malolactic fermentations along with the extended lees maturation in barrel have added complexity and texture to the wine. The palate is smooth and round with lovely balance of minerality and well refined acid.

The fruit for this wine was grown in the Brancott Valley and Taylor Pass sub regions of Marlborough. It was harvested by hand and machine, then taken to the winery. The fruit was whole cluster pressed and put directly into French oak barrels for indigenous ferment on light solids. The yeast lees in the barrels were stirred regularly over a nine month period to add weight and texture and the wine underwent partial malolactic fermentation. After its time in barrel and making friends with itself, the different fruit parcels were pumped back into tank and the resultant wine was bottled.