Eclipse Chardonnay 2022
Planted in 1993, farmed organically and on some of the deepest free-draining gravels on the famed Martinborough Terrace. Vines trained for low vigour and yields combine to deliver a wine of power and depth of flavour.
As a result of this approach the fruit quality is evident creating a wine which is tightly wound and restrained in its youth, ensuring a Chardonnay which will develop layers of flavour, richness and complexity over time and reward patience in the cellar.
Winemaker Note
“Clear, bright & vibrant. Sea spray, grapefruit, lemon and lime juice and delicate floral notes. Super fresh and energising. Plenty of deeper complexities to ponder; leesy / brioche & buttermilk tones and loads of minerally character.
Palate is super tight, precise and tuned tense like a piano wire. Very concentrated flavours wound up in the texture. Tasting mineral and grapefruit. Super fine, elegant and poised.
Destined for a long life! Epic now if you can handle and love intensity (I do, very much!) definitely a candidate for the cellar. A 10+ year chardonnay for sure!”
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Pulling off a viable crop is a tricky task even when the weather is playing along. Some seasonsthe gods are not smiling though and it these seasons which feel like they are sent to test us!
The 21/22 spring was strongly influenced by a strong La Nina cycle which created frequent NEweather events across the East Coast of the North Island bringing high humidity and frequentrain events, conditions which are less than ideal for grape farming; Pinot Noir in particular. Ourvineyard team did an amazing job in highly challenging conditions to get us to a great positionin Mid – January where it looked like an excellent crop was on the cards, plus the crucialperiod of flowering in late November turned out to be near perfect for the task. It felt like theregion as a whole had somehow pulled off a miracle!
The good vibes were short lived unfortunately when a rainfall event of biblical proportionsstruck the region in the 2nd week of February, around a third of annual rainfall fell over twodays! Pinot Noir vineyards on the terrace, particularly those with Dijon clones were worstaffected with widespread berry collapse followed by shrivel. Botrytis was also a very realthreat and swept through many blocks making picking near impossible. Producers like us withsites off the terrace and a higher portion of the later ripening Pinot clones; Abel, 10/5 forexample, certainly fared better. White varieties, because they are later ripening , were largelyunaffected and quality across the board quality was high, ditto for Syrah.
Looking at the wines 6 -7 months on I am extremely happy with what I see. It is the mostsatisfying to produce great wines in difficult years.
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We work hard to do as little as possible with this mature vine fruit. Upon receival the fruit is hand sorted before gentle whole bunch pressing. The free run was sent directly to 500L French oak puncheons. The press fraction is sent to tank for24 hours cooling to settle out the heaviest press lees. The juice is then transferred to 500L Frenchoak puncheons. This is the extent of winemaking inputs.
The wine spent 11 months in barrel before being transferred to a temperature controlled stainless steel tank for an additional 9 months on full lees. This wine has not been fined but did get very lite filtration immediately prior to bottling in August 23. A small amount of sulphur dioxide was added for preservation. No animal products used.
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Pork cutlet, hazelnuts and sauce vin jaune
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pH 3.35
TA 5.1 g/L
RS 1 g/L
Alc 13 %
Bottled Aug 23
