From Hawke’s Bay Winegrowers – a selection of 2020 vintage Chardonnay – a stellar year – I’m expecting some superb wines in this collection, showing great regional – even sub-regional – typicity following a tasting of this vintage at Clearview Estate just a few weeks ago. I’m one of many who believe that Chardonnay from Hawke’s Bay is not just their signature varietal, but is arguably world-class.
Winemaker/Owner at Radburnd Cellars, Kate Radburnd commented on the 2020 vintage: “An extraordinary dry growing season produced an early vintage of ripe, clean fruit across all varieties. It was a delight to manage harvest decisions which were based purely on merit, with very little weather or disease pressure.”
The wines were selected by Cameron Douglas MS in February this year. He had this to say about the opportunity to be involved with this:
I knew that the quality of Chardonnay samples for the second annual Hawke’s Bay Collection would be high. I was somewhat primed for this by the overall quality of other 2020 styles and varieties from around Aotearoa that arrived on my desk in the months and weeks leading up to the Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay selection process. What I didn’t quite expect was how excellent every single wine was going to be. All the wines in the line-up are individually expressive and many spoke of place and time, the winemaker’s interpretation of site with a dream vintage for many this showcased chardonnay’s suitability to the Hawke’s Bay region. Probably one of the hardest wine evaluation and selection tastings I have completed and what a fantastic day it was. In the end I chose to find a top 24 first, focusing on completeness and complexity, texture and concentration from which I selected this year’s top 12”.
On to the wines…
Te Awanga ‘Quarter Acre’ 2020 (RRP $40) A disjointed nose – primed with a flinty reductivity on the nose – quite pungent and confronting, laid over and masking some bright stonefruit and racy citrus notes. A bracing, lively acidity and some wet-stone minerality enliven the palate, and couple with good citrus flavours and nice oak. All fleshed out with a lovely texture – clean and creamy. Finishes well, but, boy, those aromatics are polarising. 89pts
Squawking Magpie Gimblett Gravels 2020 (RRP $34) Ripe and youthful aromatics, with a wave of fresh hay, sweet lemon, butterscotch, honeydew melon, and warm spice. More relaxed across the palate, rounded and fleshy – with ginger, mandarin, pear and toasted nuts. A smooth buttery texture, a balanced citrus-edged acidity, nudge of oak and a relaxed, easy-going character. 90pts
Coopers Creek Swamp Reserve 2020 (RRP $40) Ripe green-to-golden spectrum fruit flavours and florals on the nose. Youthful exhuberance of peach, grapefruit, pink peppercorn, lemon peel, pea pod, with spicy overtones of cardamom and tarragon. Gently seasoned with oak, and a focussed acidity, sits this good all-rounder firmly in that restrained ‘classic’ style. Supple, svelte and with a nice pumice-lightness of minerality at the finish. 91pts
Askerne Reserve 2020 (RRP $35) An attractive nose, with an aromatic verve and intensity. Ripe pear, crystallised ginger, nectarine and greengage. Medium acidity and a lovely weight – sweet-fruited without being sweet. Nicely spiced and showing great harmony across a fairly straight up and down palate with good lees-influence and well-judged oak. 92pts
Villa Maria Keltern 2020 (RRP $80) With an intensely aromatic bouquet fronted with a struck-match smokiness. Taut and complex, but quite punchy and weighty. In the palate lies an opulent purity of fruit with lemon, almond, nectarine and grapefruit. Nice gravelly minerality and with an interesting texture — slippery with a silky viscosity. A steely acidity gives good drive through to a long, intense finish. 93pts
Collaboration Wines Aurulent 2020 (RRP $35) An elegant expression, with attractive aromatics of cashew, satsuma, peach, white pepper, lemon zest and struck match notes. The palate has power, intensity and accents the texture as much as it does the blooming fruit – turning tropical and rich as you go. Balanced with spice, toasty oak and some oatmeal-like lees influences – this is a fabulous, finessed, complex wine. 94pts.
Elephant Hill Salomé 2020 (RRP $75) Full and rich on the nose, with a minerality and funkiness bordering on over-ripe. Mandarin, lemon peel, apple, nougat and brioche flavours. Quite youthful and energetic, with a zesty acidity giving plenty of drive through the palate, turning more tropical and textural. Plenty of oak on show here, with layers of complexity to discover. Some pithy, salinity to the long, harmonious finish. 94pts
Tony Bish Heartwood 2020 (RRP $35) Immediately complex on the nose, in a refined, appealing style, with orchard fruits, citrus and toasty spice. The lively acidity is vivid and delivers excellent flow through the palate, supported by spicy wood notes. Depth, concentration and a subtle power mid-palate, with a myriad of complex layers to work through. A master craftsman at work – the balance and tension is stylish and electric. 95pts
Bilancia Tiratore 2020 (RRP $90) Generous and concentrated, with a voluptuous tropical bouquet of fig, ginger, peach and spices. Ripe stone fruit and tropicals on the palate – pineapple, honeydew and quince balanced with a zest of kumquat, crisp nashi pear and nectarine. A mineral earthiness, along with subtle use of good oak, forms the spine, alongside a linear energy of acidity. Rich, spiced and focussed, but with a softer, broad and waxy texture. A mile-long, sweetening finish. 95pts
Helio 2020 (RRP $35) Perfumed with grapefruit pith, sliced pear, fennel, cucumber, mandarin and lemon blossom. A fabulous line of acidity sets the stage for that fruit to shine. A mixture of the mellow oak influence, that saline brightness, plus the lush texture give a great core to this excellent expression that falls into the ‘coastal expression’ thing that’s beginning to emerge in the Bay. Tense throughout and with a generous harmony to the finish. 95pts
Clearview Estate Reserve 2020 (RRP $45) Everything in place. A wine with character but where nothing jars, yet doesn’t sidle off into blandness. A crisp and fresh acidity; with volume, intensity and power to burn. Luscious texture, well seasoned with new oak, perfectly balanced with those succulently ripe citrus, stonefruit and toasted oatmeal flavours. The opulent finish blooms with plush fruit sweetness, offset with a drying pithyness. 96pts
Trinity Hill 125 Gimblett 2020 (RRP $80) A lively nose – aromas of ripe pear, grapefruit, roast chestnut, sweet lemon and orange blossom. Taut, burgeoning, with power, presence and a vitality to the palate. Some big oak, but adding to the unfolding complexity. Layers of flavours – ripe stonefruit, citrus, subtle spice, stony minerality, lemon rind, with immense length and drive coming from a sharp line of succulent acidity. The finish is long and memorable. 97pts.
You should sell boxes of this
I should do lots of things!