Corofin Wrekin Vineyard Chardonnay 2022

Accolades:
94/100 – Jamie Goode, Wine Anorak (2021 vintage)
94/100 – Stephen Wong MW (2021 vintage)
91/100 – Rebecca Gibb MW (2021 vintage)

Tasting Note: Wrekin is precision and purity. Cooler fruit, brilliant clarity. Round but clean and so well defined. The Wrekin occupies its own small locality tucked into the foothills of Marlborough’s Southern Valleys. Farmed bio-dynamically by Jeremy Hyland, together with owners Jan and Andrew Johns, it is fast becoming a site of significance on the region’s vineyard landscape. North to nor-east orientated on rolling foothills, The Wrekin’s clay soils, which are laid over greywacke parent rock, contribute hugely to the singularity of the wines made from this site.

Winemaking Notes: Hand-harvested 23rd March 2022 Yield: 35 hL/ha. Picked to 1/2 ton bins. Whole bunches loaded and pressed slowly over 4 hrs to a small stainless steel tank. No enzyme added, with only a small sulphur add made during pressing; a harder press fraction was separated and discarded. After 12 hrs settling, the main fraction was transferred, with a high percentage of solids, to two 500L seasoned French oak puncheons and one stainless steel 280L barrel for fermentation. Primary fermentation took 7 weeks to complete. A full and natural malolactic fermentation finished mid-Dec. 2022, after which the wine was topped and remained on original lees, without stirring or sulphur, until Apr. 2023. The vessels were then racked to tank and sulphured where they remained on lees for a further eight months until bottled by hand in January 2024. This wine was bottled without fining or filtration. A small natural deposit may occur.

Certification: Organic

Alcohol: 13.0%

Variety: Chardonnay

Region: Marlborough, New Zealand