“Lifted aromas of lemon, lime blossom, white peach and nougat lend brightness and charm to this creamy bottling from one of New Zealand’s Chardonnay leaders. There’s lovely acidity on the palate that brightens and freshens amid the toasty oak and lactic characters, driving to a citrusy finish.”

“The Brajkovich family's single-vineyard Chardonnays always overdeliver, but the Estate blend offers exceptional value and benchmark quality. The 2022 vintage is the current release, but seek out this 2021 – a lower-yielding year whose concentration, creamy texture and smoky lemon myrtle flavours, offset by preserved lemon acidity, set it apart. Perfect with crispy-skinned chicken – or just the roast veg.”

“Its delicacy brings a certain charm. Toast, cream, rocks and seashells all weave between peach pit, melon, pineapple rind and ginger. The palate is wonderfully structured, tight and focused but with concentration, freshness and balance. Still young, it could age for many years but has an approachability now, too.”

“This is a powerful, some - what reductive vintage of Maté’s. Aromas of nuts, gunsmoke and toast frame concentrated stone and tropical fruit. There’s lot of oomph here, but a delicacy of fruit, too. In a polished style, and still very much a baby, this is structured for the long road ahead and should age gracefully for decades to come.”

“There are gentle toasty creamy influences, too. The palate shows lovely freshness and integrated oak on a slippery, round palate. It’s more about texture than flavor here, it’s a lovely drop nonetheless.”

“A flinty, roasted nut character edges the zingy tropical, peach and melon fruit. It follows on the palate where power is tempered by a saltwater-like acidity. The fruit concentration holds up the toasty oak.”

"Rich, with toasted hazelnut and spice accents of nutmeg and cardamom to the baked apple, white peach and touches of lemon meringue. Despite the robust, intense flavors, this has a sense of restraint to the crisp thread of acidity and sleek frame."

"Delivers dried pineapple, peach and dried apricot flavors that have an appealing fleshy, juicy texture. Reveals details of orange blossoms, fennel seed and lemon zest that linger wonderfully on the sleek finish."

"This showcases a fresh core of citrus, including pomelo, tangerine and Meyer lemon, with generous citrus zest and an appealing touch of pith. Reveals sea salt, lemon verbena and white flowers that linger on the finish."

"Lemony and crisp with a stone and seashell undertone to the pretty fruit. Medium body, firm phenolics that tighten the wine on the palate. Racy and intense on the finish."

"Cooked apple and lemon curd with hints of pie crust and sweet biscuit. Some kiwi undertones. Medium-bodied with creamy texture and a flavorful finish."

"Aromas and flavors of sliced apples, lemon curd and hints of stone. Oyster shell. Lime undertones. It’s medium-bodied. Firm and fine phenolics. Tension and focus. Impressive for the vintage."

"Sliced apple, apple, sea shell and crushed stone aromas follow through to a full body yet it’s tight and structured with an impressive fruit, acidic and phenolic balance giving it focus and intensity."

"The 2022 Chardonnay Estate is calm, its shoulders are down and its almost succulent in its personality as it makes it debut in your mouth. The acidity is gentle, particularly when compared with the nervosity of 2021. There's a fine textural character that could well be tannin that keeps this giving and leaves you licking your lips. Flavors of nectarine, clove and vanilla-like oak notes make for a rather festive finish (20% new oak). The nectarine-infused length persists making this one that'll slip down easily over the next 3-5 years at the very least."

"The 2022 Chardonnay Rays Road is restrained and reticent. It's certainly not a fruit bomb of a Hawke's Bay Chardonnay with its pithy precision, slightly salty, flinty character and buzz of nervous acid tension. Rays Road is generally less opulent than most, and the austerity seems to be a character of the site, particularly from the first few vintages. Nevertheless, full malo and 11 months on lees adds texture and padding to the mid-palate. Pear, honeysuckle and melon fruit ally with subtle spiced cedar, which nods to the older French barrels used for fermentation on the medium-long finish."

"The 2022 Coddington Chardonnay has breadth and depth. Its rounded and shapely curves seem to shimmy as if it was comfortably settling onto a bean bag, finding its place. Honeysuckle, pear and melon meet spiced oak. The concluding texture is well considered and cleverly done with tension. The new oak (25%) provides a corset for the wine to sit within and tightens it up, as if the wine is held by a pair of control pants."

"The 2022 Maté's Vineyard Chardonnay offers tension, power and an unrelenting sense of moving forward as if your palate has been put on a travelator. Currently it's closed and young with little aromatic generosity. There's nevertheless purity and a real sense of density. The richness is there but it's held within a brace of tension, ensuring precision and focus."

"The 2022 Chardonnay Hunting Hill is an impressive, focused style. It has a sense of energy, being almost buoyant with the movement of a skimming stone across your palate. There's a powerful core of fruit here and it has plenty of substance within its no-more-than medium-bodied core before kerpow! It fires home with an almost spicy kick. Clever oak use, reminiscent of toasted nuts, meets restrained flavors of lemon and lime bitter and nectarine fruit. A wine that's still in its cocoon so give it time. It may even have the edge of Maté's... Big call."

“Fine and spicy, with a tense line of acidity and phenolics—they feel linear and interwoven—that stream through the fruit. This is a very pretty, pithy Chardonnay with ground white pepper, white flesh peach, crushed shells, layers of juniper berry and star anise/cut fennel inflections.”

“Leads with lemon balm/oil, green-olive brine, crème brûlée top (a.k.a. scorched brown sugar), peach fuzz, and an abundance of orchard fruit. In the mouth, kiwi fruit acidity (a.k.a. juicy, sweet, tart) defines the perimeters of the flavors and beckons you in for another, closer look. It's very, very good, a distinct wine, pure, all aspects delineated and deliberate. I like this.”