2023 Black Estate Home Bottom Block Chardonnay, North Canterbury

This is very primary and clear on both the nose and palate with sliced-apple, pear and light-chalk character. It’s medium-bodied with pretty, fresh fruit and a delicious finish.

92 points James Suckling, November 2024

The 2023 Bottom Block Chardonnay pours with a slight haze to its pale golden hue and greets with aromas of white peach, yuzu, black currant leaf and thyme. The palate is rather powerful with saline flavours of crisp apples and citrus, with nuttiness on the persistent finish.

As this white is unfiltered, you’re likely to find small but visually notable amounts of harmless sediment in the bottle. Please allow the bottle to stand and settle before pouring, and if possible, decant to allow for a maximum expression of aroma and purity of fruit to emerge.

More about this wine

The certified organic and biodynamic Home vineyard was planted in 1994 and 2011. Located in the Omihi district of Waipara Valley in North Canterbury, the 12-hectare fan-shaped slope faces north, with vines planted in sedimentary clay soils. This wine comes from ungrafted Medoza-clone Chardonnay vines in the original, lower 3.8-hectare parcel of the site.

The rather humid 2023 season required vigilance and hard work in the local vineyards as well as meticulous sorting of fruit to achieve good results. Despite its challenges, Canterbury fared well compared to the regions further north that were affected by typhoon damage.

The fruit for this wine was whole bunch pressed over a four-hour press cycle, with the juice settled for 48 hours before it was racked into well-seasoned tight-grained four-year-old French oak puncheons. Fermentation was initiated with a cultivated yeast strain obtained from this vineyard, and the wine spent a total of twelve months in the barrels during which it went through full malolactic conversion. The components were then blended in stainless steel and the wine allowed to rest for three months before it was bottled without fining or filtration with a small protection of 51ppm of sulphur dioxide.

About this producer

Black Estate is a family-owned and operated wine estate established in 1993 by Russell and Kumiko Black, and purchased in 2007 by its current owners, Nicholas Brown, Pen Naish and her family.

Located in North Canterbury’s Omihi, its current holdings include 24 hectares across three certified organic and biodynamic hillside vineyards, with a fourth one under a long-term lease contract. Their focus is on single vineyard expressions of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, the two varieties supported by smaller amounts of Riesling, Pinot Gris, Viognier, Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc.

Nicholas manages all aspects of viticulture and winemaking. He relies on good viticulture to produce excellent fruit for the wines that are vinified with minimal intervention practices that include fermentation with indigenous yeasts and bottling without fining or filtration. Minimal sulphur is used at bottling, and only if deemed necessary.