Single Vineyard: Reed Vineyard
Subregion: Waihopai Valley
Region: Marlborough
Vintage: 2021
Soil Type: Moderate to low-vigour, thin topsoil on stone and clays
Clone: 100% Clone 95
Viticulture: NZ Sustainably Certified
Growers: Pete and Anne Reed

Appellation Marlborough Wine Certified
Vegan | Vegetarian

Winemaker's Notes:

The Reed Vineyard Chardonnay is an incredibly textured, savoury wine. It summons a tightly-coiled white peach, grapefruit and toasted hazelnut aroma profile, which is complemented by complex flint and silex nuances. Its vividly sketched acidity allows it to carry the powerful but savoury oak in a defined yet impressive manner. This is a wine for drinking now for its crystalline purity, or cellaring and reaping the benefits of tertiary development in many years to come.

Reviews:

Blank Canvas Reed Vineyard Chardonnay 2021

96 Points (Top-Ranked Marlborough Chardonnay 2021) - "Intense, textural chardonnay from a single vineyard in the Waihopai Valley. Peach, lime/citrus, savoury/oyster shell, ginger and hazelnut flavours. High-energy, high-volume wine that makes a strong statement 15/9/2022" Bob Campbell MW - The Real Review

96 Points 5 STARS "Distinct gunflint and smoke aromas overlay powerful notes of grapefruit, white nectarine and red apple. The palate is taut and focused with mineral-edged acidity providing poise and presence." Jane Skilton MW - The WINE Magazine, March 2023.

17 Points "Strong struck-match aroma. Lovely precise, clean palate and definitely flinty ('because we don't stir'). Bone-dry finish and lots of fruit on mid palate. A wine you'd love or loathe. I love it." Jancis Robinson MW, 'Marlborough for connoisseurs', February 2023

95 Points - Outstanding - "Really fantastic bouquet with a lees, mineral and gun flint beginning followed by aromas of white peaach and grapefruit, apple then barrrel scents of cashew and vanilla. There’s a youthful side to the wine on the palate with a light reductive quality adding complexity and mouthfeel. Flavours reflect the bouquet with oak, acidity, fine tannins and fruit all contributing to the complexity and charm. Well made, youthful and showing its best from mid to late 2023 through 2029." Cameron Douglas MS

94 Points - "This has intense aromas of Meyer lemons, toasted bread, dried pineapples, roasted apples and salted popcorn. The concentration is fantastic, with persistent, tangy layers of fruit and salty, toasty undertones. Deliciously long. Sustainable. Drink or hold. Screw cap." JamesSuckling.com - September 2022

Blank Canvas Reed Vineyard Chardonnay 2020

18 Points (#1 NZ Chardonnay 2020) - "Seductive and well-judged ‘reductive’ (smoky, struck-match) aroma and really toasty as it opens up, something cedary. Very Coche Dury but, most importantly, there is the fruit intensity to carry off this winemaking style. Nutty, creamy, mealy citrus. So many things going on that it makes you slow down to try to enjoy all this complexity. Deep, deliciously fresh and incredibly persistent with an aftertaste of savoury/mineral citrus. Worth every penny of its NZ price of $45 (from the producer's website). Classy and got better and better over the few days post opening." Julia Harding MW | JancisRobinson.com 27/01/22

95 Points - "Captivating aromas of stone fruits and sweet citrus, a savoury spice and flinty complexity, oak adding layers of spice and woodsmoke. Power, finesse, layers texture and a core of fresh and baked stone fruits, grapefruit, baked apple and baking spices. Drink 2022-2028" Decanter | 'NZ Chardonnay 2020', Cameron Douglas MS April 2022

94 Points - "The 2020 Chardonnay Reed Vineyard is fermented in barrels, of which 40% are new. The wine is then left alone with just the occasional top-up. Winemakers Matt and Sophie Thomson call it “lazy winemaking” with tongues firmly in cheek. The result is a wine of excellent purity, offering up nectarine and lemon fruit flavors; full solids have imbued a distinctive flinty note, while the savory, nutty character derived from the wood adds layers and will integrate further with another year in bottle." Vinous | Rebecca Gibb MW 'Desperately Seeking Sauvignon' March 2022

Top 100 New Zealand Wines of 2021 - ''Aromas of dried mango, lime curd, coriander, honeysuckle and salted butter with some meaty and smoky undertones. Full-bodied with tangy acidity. Concentrated and rich, yet well structured, with a bright backbone of acidity and phenolic texture. 93 Points' James Suckling, 30 November 2021

95 Points - Outstanding "What an excellent example with immediately captivating aromas of stone fruits and sweet citrus, a leesy savoury spice and stony flinty complexity. The oak adds layers of spice and some wood smoke. The bouquet is complex, layered and enticing. On the palate - plenty of weight and richness, but not so much as to detract from the essence of what Chardonnay is all about - in this case - power, finesse, layers of texture and a core of fruit reflecting fresh and baked stone fruits, grapefruit, baked apple and baking spices of French oak. Excellent texture and length, well made and ready to drink from 2022 through 2028." Cameron Douglas MS, July 2021

5 STARS – TREAT YOURSELF “This notably classy, single-vineyard wine was hand-harvested in the Waihopai Valley, fermented and matured in French oak puncheons (partly new), and bottled unfined and unfiltered. Richly fragrant, it is mouthfilling, complex and generous, with deep peach and grapefruit flavours, finely integrated oak, and a tightly structured, long, seamless finish. Best drinking 2023+.” Michael Cooper, Michael Cooper's Buyers Guide 2021, July 2021.

93 Points "Intense, edgy chardonnay, which combines moderately opulent tree fruit, peach and nectarine flavours with taut citrus characters and a pronounced oyster-shell influence. Youthful and slightly raw at this stage but with the potential to mellow with bottle age." Bob Campbell MW 16/6/2021

Blank Canvas Reed Vineyard Chardonnay 2019

"The finest French oak-aged Kiwi Chardonnay I have tasted here all year. Gorgeous French oak-aged Kiwi, with all the honey-flecked, toasted hazelnut oomph of the Cote d'Or." Jane MacQuitty, The Times (UK), October 2020

95 Points "A finely poised yet powerful Chardonnay that has just the right amount of reductive flint character, adding a layer of complexity to this savory, stylish wine. Wild fermentation in oak puncheons followed by an extended period on lees has resulted in rounded edges while adding smoky and nutty flavors. It has lovely sinew on the long finish." Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous Media, November 2020.

95 Points, “Impressive purity and power with peach, nectarine fruit flavours together with a subtle struck-flint mineral, reductive character and a pleasing savoury note. A taut, elegant chardonnay that’s good now but promises to get even better with bottle age." 2/6/2020. Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review

94 Points "Sophisticated and complex bouquet of Chardonnay with aromas of gun-flint and oak spices, moments of lemon and grapefruit then yellow fleshed orchard fruit. The second and third sniffs reveal a mineral, stone and textured complexity. The bouquet overall is very youthful and vibrant with the messages of oak strong. On the palate - equally expressive, youthful and complex. Flavours reflect the nose with citrus then oak. Fine wood tannins with a smoky edge, medium+ acidity and palate trill. While this wine is very young it has fantastic potential that Chardonnay fans should invest in and and cellar some bottles. Best drinking from early 2022 through 2026+." 31/05/20 Cameron Douglas MS

5 stars ***** "Slightly more extroverted at this stage than its Escaroth stablemate, the classy 2019 vintage (5*) is a single-vineyard, Waihopai Valley wine, hand-picked and fermented with indigenous yeasts in French oak puncheons (40 per cent new). Bright, light lemon/green, it is mouthfilling and savoury, with concentrated, citrusy, peachy flavours, finely integrated oak and impressive complexity. A powerful, distinctive wine with obvious potential, it’s best cellared to 2022+." Michael Cooper, Michael Cooper's Buyer's Guide 2021

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