Church Road, Grand Reserve Chardonnay, Hawke’s Bay 2020 (13.5%)

With two Best in Show wines this year, Hawke’s Bay has excelled – and our judges were particularly happy that the North Island wine-growers’ slow, painstaking work teasing Chardonnay levels ever higher are patently paying off. This outstanding wine has a bright gold colour with faint glints of lime. Freshness and richness are beautifully paired in the aromas – to an extent that is perhaps only possible south of the equator. That gives this wine a memorable classicism, Burgundy lovers might note. In the mouth, it is concentrated and confident, walking that tightrope between the fresh and the rich to vivacious effect. No hurry to drink this: a year or two’s cellaring will bring great benefits.

Church Road chief winemaker Chris Scott was studying accountancy when he was ‘bitten by the wine bug’. ‘I was spending my meagre student budget visiting local regions and tasting – and reading – everything I could get my hands on,’ he remembers.

‘I moved to Hawke’s Bay in 1995 to study oenology and in my first summer here I got a job working in one of Church Road’s vineyards. Since then, they’ve not been able to get rid of me.’

Established in 1897, Church Road was in fact mothballed in the 1980s before a phoenix-fromthe-ashes rebirth in 1989. Chardonnay has been a Church Road staple ever since, with this winning wine representing its ultimate expression.

‘The fruit comes mainly from two vineyards in the lower reaches of Hawke’s Bay’s limestone Tuki Tuki Valley,’ reveals Scott. ‘It’s a cooler area, exposed to the sea breeze. Both vineyards have a shallow calcareous clay pan, and this manifests as a mineral, flinty edge in the wines that we don’t really see in other areas.

‘We favour a hands-off, less technically safe winemaking approach. Fining and clarification can strip flavour and texture, so we try to avoid them, working with what the vineyard provides rather than manipulating the juice or wine. This is key if you want your wine to be true to the terroir.’