Smooth, full bodied, dry and creamy... This is one of New Zealand's top Chardonnays from Villa Maria's great Keltern Vineyard in Hawke's Bay.

Winemaker Kevin Judd makes one of Marlborough's best Chardonnays every year and this one is full bodied with intense ripe flavours of grapefruit, burnt orange and white nectarine, which mingle with savoury aromas of smoked almonds, hazelnut meringue and the heady fragrance of freshly cut hay. The mealy savouriness carries through onto a rich, textural palate, evidence of this wine?s low-intervention winemaking. An intricate bone-dry style that is highly concentrated with a distinct flintiness, tight structure and crisp citrussy finish.

Exceptional fruit purity, concentration and complexity are the hallmarks of this wine. The result is a concentrated, rich Chardonnay with good length, weight and texture showing nutty and citrus characters. 

- Elephant Hill 

Hand picked grapes, indigenous yeast fermentation and time on lees all add the X factor to this dry Pinot Gris from Kumeu River Wines, which has a long standing reputation as the best winery in the region, for good reason.

The winery began life as San Marino Wines in 1944 when Croatian immigrant couple, Mick and Katé Brajkovich, bought a small property with a vineyard on it. Their descendents now own and run Kumeu River Wines, which produces 250,000 bottles of wine annually from its owns 30 hectares of vineyards in Kumeu and from another 10 hectares, owned by local grape growers. 

We love a dry Pinot Gris and this wine ticks that box beautifully... We're sure you'll love it too.

Un-oaked Chardonnay made with grapes sourced from throughout the Central Otago region and exhibiting the region's natural elegant fruit flavours and mineral complexity. The wine is fermented in tank to retain its bright fruit and is left to rest on its yeast lees to gain some doughy complexity and softness. This is a refreshing full-bodied wine, unencumbered by oak and superb with food.

Vegan and Certified Organic

This wine is great value for money from winemaker Simon Waghorn, who says Chardonnay is his first love in wine. He makes this creamy, dry and citrusy version from four different clones of Chardonnay, all grown on his family's home block vineyard. 

All grapes were hand picked, whole cluster pressed fermented with wild yeasts in barrel followed by lees aging in French oak with battonage (stirring of the lees). The result is a full bodied wine offering impressive depth and layers of stonefruit and citrusy flavours at a relatively modest price. 

The story of Astrolabe

Diversity, history and family ownership are among the reasons to try the outstanding range of wines from Astrolabe, which was founded in 1996 in Marlborough by winemaker Simon Waghorn and his partner in life and wine, Jane. 

Simon has forged a reputation for being one of New Zealand's most respected producers of aromatic white wines after winning an almost embarrassingly long string of awards for his Sauvignon Blancs. He has also forged a name for adventurously diverse winemaking - he produces dry flinty whites from the most southern vineyard in Marlborough at Kekerengu on the coast about an hour's drive south of Blenheim. He is the only winemaker to produce wines from here. 

He is also one of the few in this country to make Albarino, Chenin Blanc and a consistently outstanding range of wines from the organically certified hillside sloping site that is the Wrekin Vineyard in Marlborough. 

The winery remains family owned and is now run by two generations, including Simon and Jane as well as their adult daughters. 

This is an elegant Chardonnay with a medium-full body and characteristics of stone-fruit and malo-lactic fermentation. The nose offers rock-melon and peach notes with a touch of oaky vanilla. The palate is juicy and ripe, with a creamy texture and a good dose of acidity.

Cloudy Bay Chardonnay is a savoury and complex wine with bright aromatics and a powerful palate. Notes of citrus rind and stone fruit take the lead in this wine, backed up by nuttiness, excellent minerality and a hint of spice.

Winemaker David Clouston blended grapes from The Spring and Brookby Hill vineyards to make this full bodied, creamy, big Chardonnay, which was fermented using indigenous yeasts with lees stirring and full malolactic fermentation.

Maturation for 11 months aging in new and seasoned French oak barrels as well as a concrete egg adds smoothness and savoury flavours to this wine, which was bottled unfiltered. 

If you're a fan of big buttery styles of Chardonnay, try this taste sensation from Marlborough.

Beautiful big styled Chardonnay with all the bells of whistles. Flavours of ripe citrus, spicy oak and nutty aromas all add complexity to this full bodied Chardonnay, which was aged in French oak to add weight and soften the succulent citrusy acidity in this lingering, flavoursome wine. 

Hawke?s Bay winemakers Tim Turvey (founder of Clearview Estate) and Matt Kirby consistently make this reserve Chardonnay in a rich, full flavoured style with creamy, buttery flavours to the fore and a full body adding to its crowd pleasing appeal. If you?re among the majority of Chardonnistas who love big buttery styles, look no further than this tasty drop from the long established Clearview on the coast at Te Awanga.

About Clearview Estate

Clearview Estate is one of oldest, most well established wineries in Hawke's Bay and is situated on the Te Awanga Coast, south of Napier. It's a great place to visit for tastings at the cellar door as well as lunch in the dappled shade of the established courtyard area. The winery was founded by Tim Turvey, winemaker and co-owner. The current winemaker is the multi talented Matt Kirby.

Elston is the top Chardonnay of Te Mata Estate and is a powerfully long lived dry white with a full body, aromas of cream, hazlenuts and almonds leading into a rich citrusy, textural wine. 

Elston takes its name from the ancestral home of Charles Darwin, Elston Hall in Nottinghamshire, the UK, and tastes dry with ripe stone fruit flavours of peach and nectarines, balanced by a citrusy, creamy and lingering finish. 

A great wine to enjoy now and to keep.

Hand made Hawke?s Bay Chardonnay with depth and delicious intensity of flavour; ripe peachy fruit flavours are balanced by fine crisp fresh acidity and complex notes of creamy texture and a savoury depth that comes through. Aromas of oatmeal, cedar and spice all add layers of flavour to this wine, which was made with grapes grown on three vineyards; 70% Kokako and Ohiti Valley and 30% from the Ascot Vineyard in Havelock North. All grapes in this wine were hand picked, whole bunch pressed and fermented with wild yeasts, 100% malolactic fermentation followed by ageing in barrel on lees for eight months in French oak, 28% new. It was bottled unfined with a light filtration.

Stony soils, hot days and cool nights make Craggy Range's Gimblett Chardonnay the dry, full bodied, fleshy white wine that it is. Grapes were 100% destemmed and fermented in French oak barriques with a combination of indigenous and innoculated yeasts followed by nine months aging in barriques, 23% new.
The result is a creamy, smooth, dry Chardonnay for drinking now and over the next four to five years. 

A stunner. Great value for money.

A beautifully fragrant Chardonnay that fuses traditional and modern winemaking techniques; whole bunch pressing, barrel fermentation, barrel maturation on gross lees, and malolactic fermentation. The nose offers lemon, white peach, popcorn and fresh pineapple and leads to a palate of lemon curd, crème brûlée, toasted cashew and slight touches of flint and smoke. This is vibrant and juicy with refreshing acidity and plenty of concentration.