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ABEL NEW ZEALAND

Welcome to the Moutere. Our 30ha farm is situated in Tasman, on the rolling hills of the beautiful Moutere Valley, at the top of New Zealand's South Island. Nestled between mountain ranges to the east and west, and the Tasman Sea to the north, our life here began in 2018 after spending a few years searching for the right piece of land to plant, grow and make Chardonnay how we love it.

In 2019 we established 21,000 close planted Chardonnay vines on 5ha of rare Ultic clay soils (also known as Moutere clay), together with a small area of transplanted heritage apples for cider. We use the rest of our farm for breeding Wiltshire sheep which we run in the vineyard all year round. They are our undervine mowers, bud rubbers, leaf pluckers and all-weather vineyard workers.

Chardonnay is our focus, and what you taste in the bottle reflects our year-round hard work. We do it all ourselves - from the initial planting of our vineyard to now pruning, nurturing, and hand picking. To pressing, ageing and bottling in our own winery, constructed out of the old apple packhouse. We are growers, makers and sellers. This is how wine used to be - grown, made, bottled and sold by those who live on the land.

We are Mark & Sophie McGill from ABEL.

Reviews

Abel Chardonnay tastes like it should cost a whole lot more. It comes from <Tasman>, which is famous for flinty, fresh, full-bodied Chardonnays from the Moutere, where sunny slopes and rich clay soils add ripeness and depth to wines. Abel is a family-owned winery, owned by a family with a long winemaking history, a passion for great whites and who bring decades of experience to bear in this deliciously succulent wine, which offers superlative value for money. Joelle Thomson, Drinksbiz

This is a focused, fruit-forward, fresh chardonnay with apple, floral, peach, lemon - even graphite notes. It's sometimes tricky to remember that this is the variety that people associate with toasty oak and buttery lemons, especially if you're used to tasting fuller, more oaky and buttery examples of the variety. The panel hopes that more chardonnays will be made like this - minimal oak and in more of a fruit-driven style, making a wine that's fresh, with driving acidity, textured and balanced. Metro Top 50 Wines 2023

From mature vines in the Upper Moutere, this distinctive wine was fermented and aged in large French oak vats, rather than small barrels. Light lemon/green, it has fresh, vibrant, searching flavours, citrusy and slightly appley, with a restrained oak influence and racy acidity. A distinctive, energetic wine, it's well worth discovering. Michael Cooper, Listener.