Elanto Chardonnay 2023

A blend of the 3 Chardonnay blocks: Verge, Buckshot and Seawinds. Each vineyard picked and vinified separately. The fruit was hand-sorted and then whole-bunch pressed with the juice run direct to a mix of new and older French oak barriques. A natural fermentation completed over the coming months. In total the wine spent 10 months in barrel before being transferred to large concrete vats for a further 2 months’ maturation before bottling.

This is staggeringly good wine considering the age of vines (only planted in 2019) and the coolness of the vintage. The first thing that hits you is the concentration and intensity of fruit, both aromatically and – particularly – on the palate: confident, weighty, not heavy at all (even at 14% alcohol), just incisive and tangy, announcing itself as a delicious expression of the variety. Components of the 2024, tasted in barrel, show the same intensity and quality. This has all the early signs of being a great Chardonnay vineyard site. Max Allen, Jancis Robinson. 

Fantastic intensity of flavour matched to fantastic length. This is a chardonnay for lovers of chardonnay. There’s cedarwood oak in play, and a kind of nutty-creaminess too, but it’s the blaze of pear, white peach, grapefruit and steel that really woos. Citrussy acidity teams with the pear characters to give the wine an air of juicy refreshment, but everything is in the context of flavour, bold and delicious. This is an exceptional first release, and a truly beautiful wine. 95 points, drink 2024-2030+, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front.