Founders' Cellar Unoaked Chardonnay 2024

DescriptionDetails

The 2024 Founders’ Cellar Unoaked Chardonnay is open on the nose, giving the impression of an orchard on a warm day, melding notes of ripe apples, blossom and something akin to hay. The palate is redolent with similar notes that are found on the nose, combined with juicy white nectarine and a ripe lemony acidity and a hint of saline, which bring freshness and balance.

For consumption

12-15°C / 54-59 F

Cellaring potential

Bottling

The fruit was hand-picked, and fermented in two vessels: one, a concrete format that looks a little like an elephant’s foot and is therefore christened Barbar, the other a terracotta amphora known as an “elephant urn”. The juice underwent spontaneous (wild) fermentation, and malolactic conversion, and rest on lees in its vessels for 15 months before bottling.

Alcohol percentage

12.5

A key vineyard

Mustang Vineyard

40% grown under organic management by one of our growers to the east of the town of Blenheim. The soils there are a little richer, creating intense fruit-forward characters in the wine. The rest is from our Mustang vineyard, located in the Southern Valleys area of Marlborough’s Wairau Valley. The high clay content in the soils allows for greater water retention, creating the ideal environment for Chardonnay.