{"id":2729,"date":"2021-01-03T18:34:47","date_gmt":"2021-01-03T18:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=2729"},"modified":"2021-01-03T18:38:47","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T18:38:47","slug":"alexia-happy-wife-chardonnay-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=2729","title":{"rendered":"Alexia \u2018Happy Wife\u2019 Chardonnay 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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This was a surprise entry, from our judge Michael Turner, and deservedly came 4th<\/sup> place in the WineFolio Top 10 Chardonnay Tasting in September. Intrigued, I tracked down the winemaker, Jane Cooper, at the label\u2019s new Cellar Door in Greytown and bought a couple of bottles of the same wine to try again later \u2013 at a tasting you may only have a few sips of a certain wine, and I wanted to really take a little time with this \u2018undiscovered gem\u2019 of a wine. Last night was that chance.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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A pale green-gold with vibrant aromas of lemon, pear, roast hazelnut, peach and a touch of baking spice. Taut, structured and with great concentration of flavour. A spine of electric acidity drives the wine through layers of fruit, light tannins, phenolics, and keeps going to a long, lingering finale. Framed with a toasty, biscuity lick of oak, the fruit really shines through. On the journey through these complex layers, you\u2019ll find at various points\u2026 candied ginger, oyster shell, muesli, tarragon, blanched almond.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I found a fascinating balance between savoury and sweet here \u2013 at times seeming to flit between the two from sip to sip. The savoury side showing herbal, mineral and oatmeal elements, the sweeter with the stonefruit, citrus, nougat and nuts. It took a good chill as well \u2013 the first glass wasn\u2019t quite chilled enough (for my tastes, and I do tend for room temperature for Chardonnay), and enjoyed the second, colder, glass more.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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You could say the style is \u2018a fruity burgundy\u2019 but actually I\u2019d argue that that is exactly what Hawke\u2019s Bay Chardonnay is – at it\u2019s best. This wine is from Hawke\u2019s Bay (sorry, sworn to secrecy on the vineyard source) and it fits the bill completely. It\u2019s a complete wine. And a complete revelation. From the moniker it\u2019s clear that Jane made this for her partner, but I\u2019d advise getting hold of some of this, pronto. I\u2019ll be on the lookout for more, and heaven only knows how good the 2019 might be..<\/p>

At the Top 10 Tasting, this averaged a score of 93.3pts between 6 judges. On my own review I\u2019m saying it\u2019s 95pts<\/strong>, and great buying at the current RRP.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This was a surprise entry, from our judge Michael Turner, and deservedly came 4th place in the WineFolio Top 10 Chardonnay Tasting in September. Intrigued, I tracked down the winemaker, … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wine-review-by-winefolio"],"yoast_head":"\nAlexia \u2018Happy Wife\u2019 Chardonnay 2018 - WineFolio<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=2729\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alexia \u2018Happy Wife\u2019 Chardonnay 2018 - WineFolio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This was a surprise entry, from our judge Michael Turner, and deservedly came 4th place in the WineFolio Top 10 Chardonnay Tasting in September. 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