Saint Clair Family Estate - Omaka Reserve - Chardonnay 2020
Saint Clair Family Estate is located in Marlborough , on the South Island of New Zealand . The owners, Neal and Judy Ibbotson , pioneered viticulture in Marlborough in 1978. They originally supplied their grapes to local wine companies. Convinced of being able to enhance the quality of their vineyards, they decided to create Saint Clair Family Estate in 1994. The vineyard now extends over six wine-growing sites, notably in the Awatere and Wairau valleys, as well as in the Gimblett Gravels area in Hawke's Bay. The plots are vinified separately to give winemakers plenty of options when blending. Saint Clair also sources its grapes through relationships with local producers. These vineyards take advantage of Marlborough's cool, dry climate, and a grading system allows growers to gauge which plots produce the best fruit each year. The vineyard is conducted using sustainable and environmentally friendly cultivation methods.
This expression of Saint Clair Wairau Reserve is made from Chardonnay , sourced primarily from vineyards in the Omaka Valley in Marlborough, where a combination of warm days, cool nights and clay-based soils contribute to better retention fruit flavors. It is a blend of Chardonnay clones, primarily Mendoza and Burgundian Clone 95. The vines have been carefully monitored during maturation and harvested by hand at optimum flavor maturity and physiological maturity. The grapes were lightly pressed as a whole bunch and the juice fermented in American oak barrels , 14% of which were new. The wine underwent malolactic fermentation, followed by aging for 9 months on the lees with regular stirring. Only the best barrels have been selected for this Omaka Reserve Chardonnay cuvée.
Grape variety: 100% Chardonnay