NZ Chardonnay

Vegan and Certified Organic

The Main Divide is the name of the majestic Southern Alps, which form the backbone of the South Island of New Zealand. It is also the name of a range of outstanding, approachable priced drink-me-now styled wines from Pegasus Bay winery in North Canterbury. 

These wines consistently punch well above their price weight, including this Chardonnay, which is made from hand picked grapes, which were whole bunch pressed into large French oak puncheons and fermented with the grape's natural yeasts then matured on yeast lees for a year. Full bodied, creamy, bold and powerful.

Charles Wiffen Chardonnay is a fruity, medium bodied dry white offering flavours of lemon, grapefruit and white peach, given depth by creamy richness and balanced acidity.

It's a top buy at this price and a super tasty wine for everyday enjoyment. 

Chardonnay is the world's most popular and widely consumed white wine, often referred to as the red drinker's white of choice, and it's New Zealand's third most popular grape variety. It thrives in this country's climate, making a wide range of styles, including this full bodied, creamy and fresh dry Chardonnay from Marlborough. A stunner at this price and fab value for money.

It's no secret that great Chardonnay is made in beautiful rolling Moutere Hills in Nelson, which is home to the clay based vineyard where this wine comes from. Hand picked grapes were pressed into French oak cuves, where they went through spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts followed by malolactic fermentation and minimal filtration at bottling. This wine is fresh, dry, full bodied and creamy, balanced by nutty and citrus flavours.

Full bodied, dry, smooth and creamy wine, which has great tension and finely balanced acidity in every succulent sip. Here's a Chardonnay that succeeds admirably in highlighting all the bells and whistles that white wine lovers enjoy in their favourite full bodied white, but also has the restraint of a beautifully balanced wine. 

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.

Stony soils, hot days and cool nights make Craggy Range's Gimblett Chardonnay the dry, full bodied, fleshy white wine that it is. Grapes were 100% destemmed and fermented in French oak barriques with a combination of indigenous and innoculated yeasts followed by nine months aging in barriques, 23% new.
The result is a creamy, smooth, dry Chardonnay for drinking now and over the next four to five years. 

A stunner. Great value for money.

Grapes in this Chardonnay were all grown at Te Awanga on the Hawke's Bay coast, near to Cape Kidnappers, hence the name. 

This wine was made from 70% hand picked grapes which were 70% whole bunch fermented with the remaining 30% destemmed before fermentation in a combo of French oak and stainless steel tanks. All yeasts were wild and the wine was aged in French oak puncheons, 15% new for eight months. It's a full bodied, dry Chardonnay with intense zingy acidity thanks to the cool climate the grapes were grown in. 

A top quality Chardonnay from Hawke's Bay - offering exceptional value for money at such a modest price. 

Larry McKenna loves a Chardonnay made in a fresh, crisp style with creamy texture but balanced by bright acidity, a medium to full body and a long finish. So, if big buttery Chardonnays are your thing, this wine will meet your hopes in a textural fashion. Which is another way of saying, try this great white made in a fresh style.

It's made from grapes grown on Te Muna Road, Martinborough, which were planted in 1999. The wine goes through malolactic fermentation with lees stirring to enhance texture and it aged for 11 months in French oak, 20% of it new.

Hunter's Chardonnay offers incredibly good value for money. Complex, consistent and creamy, it has crisp notes that add great balance to such a modestly priced, affordable wine. 

Fermentation in 500 litre French oak puncheons with wild yeasts provides a smooth, full body to this impressive Chardonnay, which is made from grapes grown on three different vineyards in Marlborough.

Grapes in this wine were grown in Rapaura, Renwick and Omaka sub regions of Marlborough, all on vineyards that the Hunter's team has used for many years now. This wine is incredibly consistent in style with richly flavoursome citrus, nectarine and creamy flavour notes, supported by a firm backbone of acidity which adds drive, length and freshness to every succulent sip.

What the critics say

Aotearoa Regional Wine Competition, October 2021

4.5 stars – Winestate Magazine, October 2021

Gold, 94/100 – New World Wine Awards, August 2021

93/100 – The Shout, Cameron Douglas MS, March 2021

Nga Waka Chardonnay is one of the biggest selling wines at this Martinborough winery cellar door, thanks to its creamy smooth body, balanced by freshness and vibrant citrus flavour notes. 

This wine offers stunning value for money, delivering a full body, bone dry flavours and a long, refreshing finish, thanks to the bright balanced acidity provided from the cool nights in the Martinborough region.

Form Jules Taylor...

Chardonnay is one of the unsung heroes of Marlborough but also a wine that can divide the room! Jules? take on this variety is a far cry from the big buttery Chardonnay-bombs from the 1990s. Instead Jules prefers a wine with delicate freshness and attractive fruit flavours that express the vineyards in which they were grown. With only 10% new oak and a partial malolactic ferment, this elegant wine that will convert even the most die-hard chardonnay-basher!

Winemakers James and Annie Millton were the first in the country to produce a certified organic wine in 1984 and have since pioneered biodynamic grape growing and winemaking practices, along with retaining a strong loyalty to lesser known great classic grapes, such as Chardonnay, as well as lesser known ones (Chenin Blanc, but that's another story).

Opou Vineyard Chardonnay is an outstanding wine that foots it with the best.

If you're a fan of big buttery Chardonnays or like them tight and lean, this wine has a great balance of both to attract and deliver delicious flavours at both ends of the ever popular Chardonnay spectrum - and it offers great value for money too. 

Organically certified with BioGro NZ.

About Greystone

The Greystone wine story began in 2000 when the Thomas Family bought an old sheep farm on the Omihi hills in the Waipara Valley, North Canterbury. The rolling limestone hills lured this family in and their goal was a single minded one: to make great wines from the limestone rich soils here. Fast forward 20 years and Greystone is one of the great (and, some might say, yet to be fully discovered) wineries in this outstanding wine region. Not least due to the work of winemaker Dom Maxwell and general manager Nick Gill, who began working together in 2005 and has grown along with the brand and quality.