Black Estate Home Block Young Vines Chardonnay 2018

This Black Estate Home Young Vines Chardonnay was grown on their 1.0 Ha vineyard located 6 kilometers North East of the Waipara Junction, in the Omihi sub-district of Waipara Valley, North Canterbury. This is a north facing sedimentary clay fan on a gentle hill side slope, that sits above the original older Chardonnay vines. The soils are mainly Awapuni clay with calcium carbonate deposits.

All grapes were whole bunch pressed over a 4 hour press cycle. The juice was settled in tank and then transferred to 500L barrels where 21% where new and made from tight grained French oak. No additions were made to the juice except vineyard derived yeast propagated from a vineyard starter from the Home vineyard. The wine matured on fermentation lees and then went through full Malo-lactic fermentation in early spring. The wine was blended to tank after 10 months in barrel, allowed to settle and then bottled without fining or filtration.