Spinyback Chardonnay 2006
Produced By Waimea Estates
Tasting Notes
This wine has ripe aromas of stonefruit, spice and vanilla oak. The palate’s richness is nicely balanced by toasty oak tannins, creamy lees influence and a good acidity. Most definitely a generous style.
Winemakers Notes
The grapes were harvested early in the morning when the grapes were still cool - ensuring good aromatics and flavours. On arrival at the winery, the fruit was destemmed then gently pressed to settling tanks. The juice was only briefly settled, allowing some solids to remain in the juice after racking - adding a savoury interest to the wine. The juice with the highest solids content was oak-fermented, while the remainder was fermented in stainless steel. The ferments were inoculated and kept cool (15°C) to maximise fruit expression in the resulting wine.

At the completion of fermentation, the ferments underwent extended lees stirring, imparting to the wine an enhanced mouthfeel and ‘creaminess’. After 11 months maturation, the wine was blended, fined with C-fine and stabilised. After crossflow filtration, it was bottled in April 2007.
Viticulture Notes
The 2006 vintage was unusual in that the season was shorter than expected due to a hot summer. Spring started off normally– nothing too dramatic – and importantly it didn’t rain much during flowering so fruit set was at normal levels. The summer started early though, with some very hot days in December. The rest of the summer continued in that vein with very little rain leading to drought conditions here on the Plains and resulting in our earliest ever vintage with harvest starting 2-3 weeks ahead of the norm. Due to good crop levels and a warm season, this year’s fruit has excellent concentration and flavours.

The grapes were all grown in vineyards on the stony loam soils of the Waimea Plains. A mix of (predominantly) the Mendoza clone, with some Clone 15 and B95 was used; all fruit was picked in the first two weeks of April.
Food Match
This wine is suitable either by itself or as an accompaniment to white meat or seafood, or soft French cheeses such as Camembert and Brie.
Technical Details
WineMaker: Michael Brown
Vintage: 2006
Variety: Chardonnay
Region: Nelson
Alcohol: 14.92%
RS: 6.9g/l
TA: 6.0g/l
pH: 3.78
Spinyback Chardonnay 2006
TiZwine Accolades
RatingRatingRatingRating
Rich mealy tropical fruit aromas lead to a palate of real sweetness. The melon and peach flavours are seriously juicy and ripe and yet are balanced nicely by the oak. A chardonnay that will have many admirers.
RatingRatingRatingRating
Rich mealy tropical fruit aromas lead to a palate of real sweetness. The melon and peach flavours are seriously juicy and ripe and yet are balanced nicely by the oak. A chardonnay that will have many admirers
This is a Best Buy Wine
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