Pale straw/white gold hue. Fresh, delicate aromas of grapefruit, melon, nectarine, and straw. The palate is full bodied, concentrated and textural. Satisfying mid pallet weight with vibrant saline characters. White peach, yuzu, and honey. This is an unfiltered wine with small amounts of sediment. Please allow the bottle to stand and settle before pouring. Decanting will allow maximum expression of aroma and purity of fruit to emerge. Drink now to 2034.(cid:0)

Vineyard

This Black Estate Home Chardonnay was grown on our 12 Ha vineyard located 6 kilometres North East of the Waipara Junction, in the Omihi sub-district of Waipara Valley, North Canterbury. This is a north facing sedimentary clay fan on a gentle hill side slope. The soils are mainly Awapuni clay with calcium carbonate deposits. This wine includes fruit from vines planted in 1994 and 2011. The original 3.8 ha vineyard planted at 1841vines/ha has ungrafted Mendoza Chardonnay vines planted in 1994. The more recent planting completed in 2011 is 1.0ha planted at 6177 vine/ha with Mendoza, B95, ENTAV-INRA®548, and ENTAV-INRA®1066 clones, all planted on 3309 rootstock. The Home Vineyard is fully certified organic with BioGro since 2017 and biodynamic with Demeter since 2023.

Season

Winter and early spring rainfalls meant vines started the growing season in spring with adequate soil moisture. This continued through December which allowed good spring growth. Some intermittent rain around flowering meant fruit set was disrupted and developing bunches were small. Warm dry weather from January to April provided low disease pressure and good ripening for developing grape bunches. Cool nights in March retained acidy and slowed ripening. Hand harvest began in early March where small clusters of ripe concentrated disease free fruit was received. Settled weather continued right through harvest which was completed on April 14.

Harvest

Hand harvested on March 14 and 20 2024 3.8 Tons Yield = 0.61 kg/vine 26HL/HA Brix 22.0 - 22.3 TA 6.0 g/ L pH 7.1

Fermentation

Hand harvested grapes were whole bunch pressed over a 4 hour press cycle. The pressed juice was settled for 24 hours and then transferred to seasoned 500L barrels made from tight grained French oak. None were new but ten percent we one year old. No additions were made to the juice except vineyard derived yeast propagated from a vineyard starter from the Home vineyard The wine matured on fermentation lees and then went through full Malo-lactic fermentation in early spring. The wine was blended to tank after 11 months in barrel, allowed to settle for three weeks and then bottled without fining or filtration. 60ppm of sulphur dioxide (sulphites) was added.

Bottled

290 (12 x 750ml) cases bottled in one lot under screw cap on February 27 2025. R.S 1.35 g/L TA 6.0 g/L pH 3.35 Dry extract 20.8 g/L VA 0.44 /L Alcohol 14.0% Total SO2 56ppm