Our RIKARD “Blue-label” Chardonnay is made in a generous, soft, full-bodied and rich style, with cool-climate elegance.

Chardonnay grapes are picked once they reach a physiological ripeness that shows stone fruit and melon characters, with a rounded and full mid-palate weight. Flavour and texture are key to this wine and so we take care to minimise the impact of new oak which can risk dominating the flavour profile. Structure and tannin are imparted instead by utilising pressings and skin contact components. It is a wine that should look fabulous in its youth and still develop gracefully with age.

The exceptionally long, cool growing season that led into the 2023 vintage meant that we were able to achieve wonderful depth of flavour in our Chardonnays. Physiological ripeness was easy to achieve because of the length of time the grapes spent on the vine. The cool Autumn nights meant that acid retention was high also. A great combination!

Multiple small batches were all treated as individual wines until blending, giving us a large assortment of components to choose from for this label. It is a great way to build complexity into a wine by mixing these components and this vintage has it in spades.

Winemaking

• Handpicked into shallow 10kg baskets.
• 5 separate picks between 31^st March and 20^th April 2023.
• 3 separate vineyards from 850m to 1000m ASL.
• Pressed slowly and gently. Free run and Pressings portions separated.
• Settled 24hrs then racked cloudy to barrel.
• Wild fermentation in 228L French Oak barriques.
• Lees-stirred weekly for 1^st 3 months, 1-2 monthly after that.
• Lightly sulphured after completion of natural malo.
• 11 months elevage in barrel.
• Blended Feb 2024 and rested in rank for 8 months.
• No fining or heat/cold stabilisation.
• Racked and coarsely filtered before bottling Spring 2024

COLOUR – Pale straw with a green hue.

NOSE – Honey dew melon, nectarine and white fig initially on the nose, with delicate floral hints. There’s and overlaying whiff of shortbread, some hazelnut and roasted lemon. Lightly toasted oak and some caramel too.

PALATE – A very even palate, nicely weighted, generous with nothing overtly poking out. There’s a lovely pithy, citrus-led acidity and backbone upon which other fruits are laid; apricot, peach, starfruit and fig. Texturally, it’s grainy and with plenty of phenolic grip to keep it firm. It finishes predominantly savoury – the nuttiness and oak components nicely nestled in there together. The acid re-emerges at the tail end, cleanses and prepares your mouth for another sip.