French oak, Gisborne grapes and a great hillside vineyard make this full bodied, weighty, oatmeal tangy Chardonnay one of the jewels in Villa Maria's crown. McDiarmid Hill Chardonnay is 100% Gisborne grown fruit in this big beautiful wine which was fermented with wild yeasts to a bone dry style and had 11 months oak ageing with lees stirring to build softness and weight to the textural, long palate. 

Domaine Pattes Loup is a 24 hectare certified organic vineyard owned by Thomas Pico in the village of Courgis in Burgundy's northern outpost, Chablis. This creamy and crisp Chablis is an excellent example of what happens when small scale meets lofty ambitions of making full bodied, beautifully balanced, complex Chablis using organically certified grapes. 

Pattes Loup, which means 'wolf's paw'.

Crisp and creamy, full bodied and elegant, this wine has great complexity thanks to being made from 21 year old vines, which are now coming into their own - as this lovely refreshing dry white shows. This is the first Masters Chardonnay from winemaker Helen and her partner Ben Masters' vineyard, four kilometres south of Martinborough. 

It's a beautiful wine now and will continue to develop in flavour and age well for the next four to five years+.

The most flavoursome Chardonnay barrels are selected after a year of aging and then blended together to make this pinnacle of Seresin's dry, full bodied white wines, the Reserve Chardonnay. The reserve wine spends another six months in old oak puncheons, gaining depth, complexity and integration of flavour thanks to this additional maturation. 

Organic certification

The organic story at Seresin

One of the greatest things about Seresin Estate is the organic certification. This came relatively early on for Seresin, who was dismayed by the amount used and the impacts of man made chemicals, which were routinely and frequently sprayed on vines. His early adopting philosophy of organic certification paved a positive path for the integrity of the wines as well as leading others to follow suit.

South Island Chardonnay is on a roll as this tasty drop from Mt Maude in Central Otago shows. Winemakers Sarah Kate and Dan Dineen use hand picked grapes from 27 years old vines to make this dry full bodied, creamy smooth wine. 

The grapes are foot stomped, basket pressed, fermented with indigenous yeasts, and the wine is aged in seasoned French oak to produce what they describe as a seamless wine. We agree. 

Try it. 

A Jura Chardonnay from 50 year old vines grown on West facing Lias Marls in Cesancey.

Aged in 500L barrels for two years.

The 2020 vintage was a warmer year, giving a resulting Salted Caramel & eucalyptus on the nose & Green apple, Honey, white flower & salty caramel flavours to the wine, with a real tension on the palate.

100% Chardonnay harvested from the legendary Lyon's vineyard in Hawke's Bay.

Intense summer peach and hints of citrus, fine acidity and a seamless palate.

Whitehaven Wines began life in 1994 as a romantic business for a couple of corporate escapees, Sue and Greg White, who had given up life in the rat race of Auckland for another kind of life aboard their yacht. When sailing around the country, they took shelter in the Marlborough Sounds from Pacific storms and fell in love with the region. An easy thing to do when harbouring in the spectacularly pristine waters of the Sounds. They decided to settle there on terra firma once more and try their hands at wine production, hiring a winemaker and beginning a business which has now been around for 26 years. Greg has sadly passed away now, leaving a legacy as well as his wife and daughter, Sam, to run the winery. Their winemaker is Peter Jackson.

Chardonnay Barrel Gin is a smooth and super sippable gin. Aged in French Oak ex-Chardonnay barrels, the palate is light and creamy, finishing with lingering spice and fresh citrus peel. As soon as you open the bottle, you'll get great aromas of preserved lemon, ginger, light vanilla and cinnamon.

Rich layers of concentrated fruit held in check by crisp but balanced acidity, which marries beautifully with its lemon zest flavours and creamy texture. Premier Cru Chablis is one of the great wines of the world and this one comes from the relatively new Domaine Pattes Loup, a 24 hectare certified organic vineyard owned by Thomas Pico in the village of Courgis in Burgundy's northern outpost.  

Pico was inspired by his grape growing grandfather "Not to make the same mistakes that I did, which led him to stop spraying his vines with herbicides when he returned to Courgis in 2004 after several years working in Nuits St George. First he stopped spraying herbicides, then he began to transition to organic certification and he has since forged a name synonymous with high quality and integrity every step of the way. The name Pattes Loup means wolf's paws and is named after the block of vineyard he inherited from his family.

Corofin puts the b in boutique; it's a small scale production owned and run by Mike and Anna Paterson in Marlborough. The couple source grapes from top notch vineyards in the region, using organically certified vineyards wherever possible. Their Chardonnay is made from a blend of clones 6, 5 and Mendoza. Barrel fermentation adds creamy notes and nutty flavours to the citrusy aromas.

Trinity Hill - The structure has a tight shape with the finesse and concentration that are hallmarks of Trinity Hill Chardonnay. It displays delicacy but richness and the beautifully linear acidity makes it a fantastic match with food.

An excellent partner with white meats and seafood dishes.

The Crater Rim Waipara Valley Chardonnay is a youthful, estate-grown wine, hand-picked and fermented and lees-aged for 11 months in French oak barriques (partly new). This wine is a bright, light yellow-green, with a fragrant, citrusy bouquet. The palate is mouth-filling, with good intensity of grapefruit-like flavours, slightly buttery and toasty.