BEST OF THE BAY

Imagine your next tour around Hawke’s Bay included a challenge to sample its best chardonnays. Now imagine tasting 57 of them in one day. Local winemakers were invited to submit chardonnays from the 2020 vintage for the Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay Challenge. MiNDFOOD Master Sommelier Cameron Douglas tasted these wines to select 24 outstanding examples, then retasted them to bring it down to just 12. “All 57 wines submitted were excellent ... tasting each wine several times to take notes, score, then retaste to bring that number down to just 12 was an experience I’ll never forget,” he said. A list of the top chardonnay examples can be seen at hawkesbaywine.co.nz