Wine Details
Ratings
40- - 36- - 32- - 28- - 24- - 20- - 16- - 12- - 8- - 4- - 0- |
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Producer
The Esk Valley winery was first established by the Englishman, Robert Bird in 1933, and under the name Glenvale. It grew rapidly to become New Zealand‘s fifth largest winery producing fortified wines until the late 1970‘s when the brand Esk Valley was created for a range of premium table wines. In 1987 by Villa Maria purchased the winery and renamed it Esk Valley. The quality increased significantly in the late 1990's from work in the vineyard and a focus on quality wines only. Esk Valley winemaker Gordon Russell is given a free hand to create the wines that he wants. The reds are perhaps the closest in style to Bordeaux with firm tannins and balanced acidity.
Grape varieties
Chardonnay
Region
Hawkes Bay is located on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand and produces a healthy 27 per cent of New Zealand’s production (2006). In General the cool maritime climate allows for a diverse range of wine styles, from tropical Sauvignon Blancs and elegant Chardonnays to gutsy Merlot and Cabernet blends.
Style
The Chardonnay grape is the world’s most popular grape variety and more often than not will have seen oak, usually through a period of maturation in oak barrels before being bottled and released. The oak imparts rich, creamy, vanilla flavours into the wine to produce big, full-bodied whites. Australia put Chardonnay on the map as an everyday wine but the grape originates from Burgundy in France. Here, in Chablis for example, the wines are very different in style with more mineral flavours, less oak. Chardonnay is often blended with the Semillon grape
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