Jules Taylor Marlborough Chardonnay 2020

Jules Taylor Marlborough Chardonnay 2020Oaked Red apple Mango & toffee Textural & complex "Fabulously elegant and delightfully complex, showing nectarine, lemon peel, vanilla and cashew notes with a hint of oatmeal on the nose. The palate displays excellent weight and rounded mouthfeel, wonderfully supported by refined texture and bright acidity, finishing persistent and smooth. At its best: now to 2025" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Mar 2021 Pale straw yellow. Delicious aromas of red apple and

• Oaked
• Red apple
• Mango & toffee
• Textural & complex

"Fabulously elegant and delightfully complex, showing nectarine, lemon peel, vanilla and cashew notes with a hint of oatmeal on the nose. The palate displays excellent weight and rounded mouthfeel, wonderfully supported by refined texture and bright acidity, finishing persistent and smooth. At its best: now to 2025" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Mar 2021

Pale straw yellow. Delicious aromas of red apple and white nectarine are interwoven with grapefruit pith and notes of candied mango. These primary aromas are supported by nougat notes and complex hints of brazil nuts and toffee. This wine is soft and smooth with a lovely polished feel. Plenty of wild fermentation has made it textural and complex whilst retaining fresh, bright acidity. The flavours are mouthfilling and give way to a long, juicy finish. 

The fruit for this wine came from the beautiful Meadowbank Estate vineyard in the Taylor’s Pass area of Marlborough’s Southern Valleys.

The season started cool and unsettled, but temperatures quickly warmed up leading to an early, quick flowering. The last substantial rainfall of summer was on 17th December and after that Marlborough dried out. This wasn’t obvious early in January as ash drifting across from the Australian bushfires resulted in a lot of cooler cloudy weather to keep the vineyards green. However, the season warmed up heading into February, and the grapes went through veraison in very good, clean condition. In the last week or so the nights cooled off, allowing extra time for flavour development heading into harvest. On Monday 23rd March, as we were handpicking our first Sauvignon Blanc, we heard that New Zealand was heading into lockdown for a month. Thankfully, harvest was able to continue and the weather played its part superbly. Apart from the stress caused by virus, the actual harvest was a breeze with some of the best condition fruit we have ever seen. The last grapes were harvested on 6th April and brought the surreal vintage to a close for the Jules Taylor Wines team.

The grapes were harvested carefully by hand and machine, then taken to the winery for fermentation using a variety of techniques. Whole cluster pressed portions went directly into French oak barrels for a wild ferment on high solids. Other portions were tank fermented and some were cold settled and partially tank fermented and then sent to barrels mid-ferment. The yeast lees in the barrels were stirred frequently over a nine month period to add body and complexity, and the wine underwent full malolactic fermentation to lower the acid profile. After its extended nap in the barrels, the various parcels were pumped back to tank, blended then bottled.

Food Pairing: Try it with chicken roasted on a bed of lemon and oregano potatoes, or served with a Moroccan couscous salad. Or for a lighter option try it with a farro or cracked wheat salad with roasted tomatoes, broad beans and a tahini dressing.