Cloudy Bay Chardonnay

Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc was the wine that put New Zealand on the world wine map but if you ask us Cloudy Bay Chardonnay is their unsung hero. It’s a world class white that oozes style and class!

It’s not just the Cloudy Bay reputation that’s big. This is a full bodied, big and complex, powerful style – a Chardonnay lover’s Chardonnay. Hand picked parcels of fruit from Cloudy Bay’s vineyards in the Wairau Valley and Southern Valleys region. It’s 100% barrel fermented in French oak for 11 months and regular lees stirring for added complexity. They gave this one the works and boy does it show!

This 2022 vintage scored 5 Stars with local critic Michael Cooper who said “A powerful Marlborough wine with impressively concentrated, savoury, lemony, mealy flavours and a proven ability to mature well over the long haul. The grapes are sourced from numerous company-owned and growers’ vineyards in the Wairau Valley and Southern Valleys. The vigorous, tightly structured 2022 vintage (5*) was fermented in a mix of new oak cuves and French oak barriques (20 per cent new), and barrel-aged for 11 months. Bright, light lemon/green, it is a refined, full-bodied wine, with strong, peachy, citrusy flavours, gentle biscuity notes, fresh acidity, and excellent delicacy, harmony and length. Showing obvious potential, it should be at its best 2026+.”

The guys at Cloudy Bay themselves say this about this 2022 release – “Cloudy Bay Chardonnay 2022 is one for connoisseurs and gastronomic adventurers: refined, poised and balanced. Painstakingly made using traditional techniques, it is a true ‘food wine’.”

Wow the dinner guests and serve with seafood and other bright or creamy flavours. How about with a Caprese salad, soft cows’ cheeses, cream sauces and basically anything smoked or chargrilled.

Drink now or stash in the cellar for the next decade and beyond.