Esk Valley Artisanal Chardonnay

Built in 1933 by Englishman Robert Bird who produced fortified wine from the 30s through to the 70s until the Esk name was created for a premium range of table wines. These days the Esk Valley brand is owned under the umbrella of the highly successful Villa Maria brand (part of the Indevin wine group) – over the years they’ve become one of NZ’s most loved and trusted wine brands and have made some seriously good wines under the guidance of legendary winemaker Gordon Russell.

This is the Artisanal range where they let their winemaking team roll up their sleeves and craft seriously good wines true to variety and style. This is their Artisanal Chardonnay and it’s been bloody reliable for Chardonnay lovers over the years.

Here’s a little inside tip as to why. The fruit sourced for this label comes from two of Hawke’s Bay’s top Chardonnay vineyards – the Keltern and Two Terraces vineyards. A portion of the blend goes through malo-lactic fermentation (the winemaking process to add a creamy richness to it) and aged for 12 months before being released. The end result is what the Esk crew call “A delicious, full bodied Hawkes Bay Chardonnay. With minimal oak influence the wine is all about the grape, showcasing peach and citrus flavours so typical of Hawkes Bay Chardonnay.”

It’ll go just nicely with seafood and white meats like chicken and pork.