Finally, Chardonnay Has its Day

A dominant fixture of the New Zealand wine scene in the 1980s, Chardonnay is well and truly back in vogue. Make sure to pour yourself a glass for Chardonnay Day this May 26th. 

A couple of decades ago, New Zealand’s Chardonnay-scape was a tad skinny. After the ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) club declared the bold, fat, over-oaky, buttery examples we’d been served since the 80’s decidedly unfashionable, Chardonnay basically became the corduroy of wine.  We sifted our way through the 1990’s, awash in a sea of Sauvignon Blanc and new-fangled Pinot Gris and it was all a bit tragic. Yet Chardonnay lovers never really let go and despite trying hard with other varieties, nothing gave us that same feeling of satisfaction that a glass of that golden good stuff did.  

Fortunately, Kiwi wine producers didn’t totally give up on Chardonnay either. Instead, they began looking seriously at how our palates were evolving to get smarter about the styles they put on the market.  The thing that winemakers love about Chardonnay is its versatility.  It’ll produce great examples from every terroir imaginable.  Winemakers can throw anything at it and a delicious drink will follow; all manner of different combinations of oak, stainless-steel tank or barrel fermentation and/or maturation, wild or cultured yeasts, malolactic ferments, or lees stirring regimes – Chardonnay will hold its own and allow a winemaker to put their own stamp on the style which ends up in the bottle. 

Sure, there were still those who yearned for the big, buxom, old-school examples, however, a new market for more balanced, fresher, fruit-centric styles has emerged.  These new wines suited our growing appreciation for Eastern and Asian cuisine and our thirst for purity, fruit concentration and cleaner, conversation-friendly Chardonnay. 15 years ago, Hawke’s Bay was the high priestess; Gisborne was her second-in-command and Auckland, and Waiheke were waiting wistfully in the wings, yet Marlborough wasn’t even on the radar. Nowadays it’s rare to see any wine awards trophy cabinet, or magazine best-of list not absolutely stacked with Marlborough Chardonnay. Why? Marlborough is a modern-day Chardonnay El Dorado, delivering both lean, dry, delicate, and mineral-driven styles to the exotically rich, creamy, toasty, and tropical.

Great Chardonnay is produced right across the region, from the Waihopai to the Southern Valleys of the Wairau and across to the aromatic aristocrats of the Awatere. Flinty, fresh and citrus-driven or nutty, toasty, creamy and smoky, drink now styles or exotically age-worthy examples to salivate over in your cellar, Marlborough Chardonnay is a force – and long may it be with you.

Marisco Vineyards 

Chief among Marlborough’s top Chardonnay producers is Marisco Vineyards, a family-owned and operated, award-winning wine producer. Boasting a portfolio of wine brands like The Ned, Leefield Station, The King’s Series and their Craft Series, the Chardonnay loving public, are spoilt for choice when it comes to the quality and variety of Chardonnay that comes from their Waihopai and Southern Valleys vineyards.

Marisco Chardonnay 

Butter, Stonefruit, Brioche, Apples, Citrus, Creaminess, Oak, Nuttiness – all great descriptors of Chardonnay and each attribute in the right proportion distinguishes the four Chardonnays Marisco produces. They say Chardonnay is the winemaker’s wine and the manipulation of each parcel within the winery is what helps to distinguish style. However, you need great, clean fruit to work with and this starts in the vineyard throughout the growing season. The vineyard team take great care with their chardonnay to keep crop levels low, fruit exposure high and just the right amount of leaf foliage to keep airflow ideal through the canopy and keep disease pressure down. This has paid dividends in the past few years with ripe, clean and flavoursome fruit resulting in moreish and opulent wines. 

A Nod to 2022 at Marisco 

In vintage 2022, most of Marisco Vineyard’s Chardonnay blocks were picked in the last week of March, resulting in the grapes being nice and ripe. Their Chardonnay has been fermenting in oak and is now bedding down for winter before going through malolactic fermentation (a process which converts sharp malic acid flavours into soft, creamy lactic acid flavours) in the springtime. They stir their barrels fortnightly, which helps develop more palate weight and get those nice rich, brioche and nutty notes. By using multiple techniques, they are able to add different layers of flavour and complexity.

What’s Different About Each of Marisco’s Chardonnays? 

Just as there’s a card for every occasion, so too there is a Chardonnay. And each of Marisco’s four styles is perfectly suited to your next dinner party, milestone or casual catch-up with friends.  

The Ned Chardonnay 

The Ned Chardonnay is made for the everyday Chardonnay drinker. It demonstrates a great balance of oak and secondary notes to showcase the traditional and old school Chardonnay style. The parcels that go into The Ned Chardonnay sit on lees for a period of time with regular stirring. This is followed by full malolactic fermentation which influences the buttery, creaminess that is found on the palate making it a great example of a classic Chardonnay.

Occasion suggestions – after work drinks, at home whilst cooking dinner.

Leefield Station Chardonnay 

The Leefield Station Chardonnay, like the whole Leefield range is designed to showcase what a signature single vineyard has to offer. A wine of site, Marisco handpick premium parcels from three contrasting areas of the vineyard. Each bring a nuance to the wine culminating in a structured, balanced wine of great provenance. Fastidious use of oak supports the fruit spectrum while partial malolactic fermentation maintains an acid line and lengthens the palate. 

Occasion suggestions – platters shared with friends.

The King’s Series Chardonnay 

The King’s Bastard Chardonnay is a parcel selection of Marisco’s top producing vineyards of each year. A wine of style, it is brimming with oak while the palate is focussed and balanced, resulting from the partial use of malolactic fermentation. Marisco select malolactic bacteria for this wine that produce low levels of the compound that is associated with butteriness and therefore the wine shows great fruit and oak expression with a nice hint of gun flint, a characteristic often sought after in modern Chardonnay examples. The wine is kept in oak for 10-11 months with regular lees stirring.

Occasion suggestions – hosting cozy, intimate dinner parties, this is a great table wine.

The Craft Series Pioneer Chardonnay 

Finally, The Craft Series Pioneer Chardonnay is the penultimate of what they can produce. Only 100 or so cases are produced a year and this comes from an assemblage of individual barrels chosen for their specific properties. The winemakers arduously taste through every barrel and only select those that show the right weight, oak presence, acidity and gun flint reduction synonymous with the style. This style helps with longevity and develops great secondary characters of brioche and a nuttiness with its extended time in bottle. 

Occasions suggestions – celebrating milestones, for special occasions.

Choosing the Right Glass with Chardonnay 

So much of Chardonnay’s appeal lies in its luscious, multi-layered aromas – and the shape of the glass you serve it in is going to have a huge effect on how they’re perceived.   The aroma molecules in Chardonnay tend to stay close to the surface of the wine, so opt for a shallower glass with a wide, ‘swirlable’ bowl – a glass that’s easy to get your nose into.  High-sided, narrow glasses will only stifle the aromas and tend to make the wine appear sharper when you sniff and sip. 

Chardonnay may have temporarily ceded its position to Sauvignon Blanc but its renaissance has well and truly brought it back to prominence in New Zealand. And winemakers across the country are backing that up with masterpiece wines that strongly reflect our distinctive terroir and huge diversity within the different regions. Marisco being key among them. So, if you’re a little bit hazy on your Chardonnays, International Chardonnay Day sounds like a great time to get reacquainted!

Shop your favourite Marisco Chardonnay now at your local stockist or online at marisco.co.nz 

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