A Hawke’s Bay wine – mostly from the Howard’s Vineyard on the old tidal estuary at Bay View. A very pale gold colour with an exhuberant, flinty aroma filled with grapefruit, nectarine, lemon blossom, cashew nut, wood smoke, satsuma, baguette and a struck-match reductivity. Fine, vibrant acidity with a juicy saline edge greets the palate. Tight, muscular and intense. Stonefruit and citrus continue deep into the layers of flavours as the wine unwinds – each glass revealing more depths. There’s a toasted oak influence, but sitting quietly at the back. Oatmeal and pithyness from extended time on lees and some nice slate minerality round things out. Plenty going on here. Obvious cellaring potential – at 6 years on, this is still quite primary and fresh. The finish is persistent and drying. 95pts
Esk Valley Winemakers Reserve Chardonnay 2016
