The Boneline
Sharkstone Chardonnay 2022 750ml

SHARKSTONE CHARDONNAY 2022

Sunglow - Grilled grapefruit – Peach blossom – Nectarine crunch – Car amel spice – Elemental

Vintage

North Canterbury’s warm start to the 2022 vintage was welcome after the challenging frost events of 2021. Bud burst was reasonably early in late September. This was followed by frequent rain events up to f lowering , which raised disease pressure throughout the district. This weather also resulted in a patchy flowering and this set a smaller crop for the 2022 harvest. The warm start was tempered by cool weather in the new year as growing degree days dropped signifinatly to the long term average. This cool weather dragged out the ripening process but also allowed for extra vineyard work with increased canopy management and some crop thinning to make sure the fruit had minimal damage from disease and the crop load could be ripened. Settled weather during harvest allowed for very careful picking deci sions and the resulting wines are true to site and season. There was still the shadow of covid hanging over this harvest and it was essential for covid infections to be handled responsibly, through good planning and team work we managed this extra challenge.

Vinification

All fruit is estate grown organically, with the majority of the clone being Mendoza. All our Chardonnay is hand harvested and whole-bunch pressed, but they are lightly crushed first, this allows the juice to be extracted at very low pressures. Each parcel of fruit is kept sepa rate and vinified and aged individually. The juice is allowed to oxi dise pre-ferment which makes the final wine more vibrant, long-lived and intensely flavoured as finished wine. All parcels take most of the lees from pressing to barrel for wild fermentation and are aged in French oak with 25% being new. To keep the structure of this wine, we allowed only 50% of the barrels to go through spontaneous malolactic fermentation, with no battonage. The total time in barrel is about 10 months before being combined into one blend in mid-February, The wine stays in stainless steel tank for 6 months on lees which allows for the acid to become precisely defined and adds texture - then finished with no fining and only gentle filtration. Wine Green gold with silver flecks. Aromas of grapefruit, orange zest, grilled white stonefruits, chared applewood with underlying peach blossom and oystershell. Fresh citrus dominates with crunchy nectarine, crystalized pineapple, sweet baking spice and a saline minerality in support.

A fine acid structure is coated with a silky texture to give a long complex finish.