Te Kano Kin Chardonnay

Life, land, legacy….and seeds. Lots and lots of seeds. Te Kano (which means ‘seed’ in Maori) harvest and propogate some 400 seeds every year from the ancient harvest Kōwhai tree that sits on their Northburn vineyard property there in Central Otago.

They’ve propagated over 5000 native plants, including 900 Kōwhai, and cleared over 50 hectares of invasive plant species. They’re passionate about the environment, nature, conservation…and making bloody good wine!

Te Kano are a family owned, premium Central Otago producer who are reasonably new to the Central Otago wine scene but boy they’ve started to raise a few eye brows (and a few glasses!) with a seriously impressive line up of wines (especially Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Rosé) from their vineyards in Bannockburn, Northburn and Waitaki.

This is their Te Kano Kin range and for a snip under $20 this is a pretty smart Chardonnay buy! Think Central Otago style (ripe citrus and stonefruit flavours) meets California (thanks to some ageing in American oak and maybe something to do with their owner being a Yank!) to give it rich, creamy, vanilla flavours.

Michael Cooper said “Enjoyable young, the bright, light yellow/green 2021 vintage was estate-grown at Northburn, in the Cromwell Basin, partly barrel-fermented, and lees-aged for 10 months. Mouthfilling and creamy-textured, it is an upfront style, with strong, peachy, slightly toasty flavours, a hint of butterscotch, and a well-rounded finish. It’s drinking well now.”