Patience matters

Cloudy Bay Chardonnay begins its journey long before it ever reaches the winery doors.  In the weeks leading up to harvest, the vineyard and winery teams head into the vineyards, tasting and tasting and tasting again. Alongside this, grapes are collected every day and analysed for acidity, sugar and flavour. 

Technical Viticulturist Hannah Ternent leads this process. “Numbers tell us where we are,” she says. “But taste tells us when we’re ready. We’re looking for brightness and balance, once that’s there, we move.”

Of course, not all vineyard blocks – or indeed vines – mature at the same rate, and our picking can happen in stages, sometimes days or weeks apart.

Picking matters

Desired style also dictates when we pick. Some parcels are picked earlier to retain freshness, others later to build texture. The goal is balance across the final blend.

When a block is deemed ready to go, picking begins early while the fruit is cool. Whole clusters are cut by hand into small crates so they arrive in pristine condition at the winery. Hand harvesting ensures that the best quality fruit is selected to begin its journey to become Cloudy Bay Chardonnay. 

Hannah explains. “People harvest carefully and selectively. That control matters before the grapes even leave the vine.”

Pressing matters

Dan Sorrell sees the impact immediately once the grapes arrive. “Hand-picking is the first decision that shapes the wine,” he says. “Because the clusters stay whole, we can press gently and keep the fruit character pure.”

Pressing the Chardonnay as whole bunches protects delicate aromatics. Natural fermentation follows, building texture slowly, creating a wine that will appear layered and complex in the glass. 

People matter

Harvest is the most collaborative time of year. Picking teams work across multiple vineyard sites, guided each morning by quality briefings and fruit examples. “There’s a lot of pride in getting it right,” says Hannah. “Every decision out there carries through to the finished wine.” In the glass, those decisions show up as lifted citrus, gentle stone fruit and a soft, rounded texture. Cloudy Bay Chardonnay isn’t made to a recipe, but always reflects the place, the season and the decisions made in the vineyard and winery. The aim is consistency in approach and an unwavering focus on quality, rather than uniformity in outcome.

Discover the latest Cloudy Bay Chardonnay and see how that year’s harvest expressed itself.