Reed Vineyard Chardonnay 2022
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Vineyard: Reed Vineyard
Subregion: Wairau and Waihopai Rivers confluence | Central Wairau
Region: Marlborough
Vintage: 2022
Soil Type: Moderate to low-vigour, thin topsoil on stone and clays
Clone: Clone 95
Viticulture: Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand Certified (SWNZ)
Growers: Pete and Anne Reed
Appellation Marlborough Wine Certified.
TASTING NOTE
The Reed Vineyard Chardonnay is an incredibly textured, savoury wine. It parades a bounty of fleshy white nectarine and orchard fruit, flint-focused precision and a grainy, honeyed richness. Its vividly sketched acidity allows it to carry the powerful but savoury oak in a defined yet impressive manner. The full solids fermentation with 100% wild yeast and 12 months lees ageing without bâtonnage has given multitudinous layers of complexity. This is a wine for drinking now for its crystalline purity or cellaring and reaping the benefits of tertiary development in many years to come.
VINTAGE
Labour, Covid and weather all impacted vintage 2022, but those who had the ability to put in extra work into the vineyards were rewarded. Significant rain in winter through to late spring marked the end of three years of drought, while a warm early December meant an abundant flowering and fruit-set which was a stark contrast to 2021. During the warm, dry summer it was apparent that crops were likely to be bigger than average so green thinning to reduce potential yield was an important task.
From mid-February cool days and nights meant the natural acidities remained high, though rainfall in March required extra care and attention in the vineyard. Those that could saw resulting wines that are expressive, elegant and classically Marlborough.
VITICULTURE
The Reed Vineyard is home to dedicated growers and friends Pete and Anne Reed. Situated at the mouth of the Waihopai Valley and above the braided Wairau River, they first planted vines on their land in 2001. Our parcel of Chardonnay is top-grafted onto mature Gewurztraminer vines in 2017 so while the top-graft is young, the vine roots go deep. The parcel is 100% Clone 95 Chardonnay, which we love for its elegance and aromatic complexity. We hand-harvested this parcel on the 15th March, 2022.
WINEMAKING
Simply and sincerely made, this Chardonnay was gently whole-bunch pressed with the very cloudy free-run juice going to new and seasoned French oak puncheons (500L), approximately 40% new oak.
There it eventually commenced fermentation with ambient yeast and was left to complete both primary and natural malolactic fermentation without disturbance. It was carefully racked out of oak to spend a further several months on light lees before being bottled without fining or filtration on the 9th March 2023. Appellation Marlborough Wine Certified. Vegan.
Reviews for Reed Vineyard Chardonnay 2022
“Our White Wine of the Year is……. the toasty, nutty, seriously savoury and utterly compelling 2022 Blank Canvas Reed Vineyard Chardonnay from Marlborough in New Zealand!”
"Weighty, mouth-filling chardonnay with grapefruit, saline/oyster shell, lime zest, nutty yeast lees and a suggestion of sizzled butter. Great without the complication of food but even better with my hot-smoked salmon. 27/9/2023"
"An excellent example of Chardonnay from the Blank Canvas team with aromas and flavours of white fleshed stone fruits and a citrus seam woven through the core. Taut and dry, youthful and textured with a lovely palate squeeze and urgency. Flavours expand on the palate as the wine opens out and gets closer to ambient with baking spices and a light reductive flinty highlight. Oak frames the fruit and is judicious in its level and impact. Generous weight, gentle warming alcohol, plenty of intensity, length and power. A wine best enjoyed from mid to late 2024 through 2030+"