Bilancia Kaikora Vineyard Hawke's Bay Chardonnay 2021

Bilancia Kaikora Vineyard Hawke's Bay Chardonnay 2021French oak Grapefruit Flint Rich palate "Pure, ripe, fruity, fresh, elelgant and alluring bouquet. Aromas of ripe white peach and pear, fresh red apple and a core seam of minerality and fine lees complexity. A wine of texture and mouthfeel with a vibrato and quiver as the wine touches the palate, an umani with flavours of lemon and peach, apple and lees and barrel spice. Very lengthy, fine and high quality. Great drinking from 2023 through 2029"

• French oak
• Grapefruit
• Flint
• Rich palate

"Pure, ripe, fruity, fresh, elelgant and alluring bouquet. Aromas of ripe white peach and pear, fresh red apple and a core seam of minerality and fine lees complexity. A wine of texture and mouthfeel with a vibrato and quiver as the wine touches the palate, an umani with flavours of lemon and peach, apple and lees and barrel spice. Very lengthy, fine and high quality. Great drinking from 2023 through 2029" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Aug 2022

Central Hawke’s Bay’s moderately cooler climate delivers fruit with a unique profile. Full, ripe fruit with some flint and hints of pink grapefruit on the palate. With time the wine will open up further developing a richer palate. This wine is ready to drink on release and will continue to develop positively for 6 – 8 years.

A single vineyard Chardonnay from Kaikora Vineyard in Ōtāne. Kaikora is the original name for the town of Ōtāne in Central Hawke’s Bay. The name was changed to avoid confusion with Kaikōura in the South Island. Kaikora Vineyard Chardonnay is a part of our project to highlight some of the most unique, small, single vineyards in Hawke’s Bay.

2021 was yet another in a run of great Hawke’s Bay vintages. 

The fruit was 100% hand-picked, then whole bunch pressed to French oak barriques for fermentation. The wine was fermented with indigenous yeast and then spent 11 months in oak prior to bottling; there was no fining or cold stabilisation.