2023 Neudorf Rosie's Block Amphora Chardonnay, Nelson

100% amphora fermented, 10 months on gross lees, 2 months on fine lees and matured in stainless steel. This is produced to showcase the Moutere clay gravels it grows on. From the very first glimpse you'll be awestruck by its charisma. Pineapple core, Alphonso mango, white peach and jackfruit. Sunflower kernels, bee pollen and yuzu. The palate manages to feel refreshing and pure whilst enlivened with rocky river stones, aloe and crème fraîche. It's a lesson in building texture without oak influence. This wine lacks for nothing; it's abundant with fruit, spice and full-bodied creaminess. Acidity zips and zaps about the palate. Totally magical. Drink to 2030.

95 points Shanteh Wale for Halliday Wine Companion, November 2024

This has fantastic aromas of baked apples, thyme, clay, mangoes and pie crust. It’s creamy and full-bodied with a savory feel. Long, cool and delicious. From organically grown grapes. Sustainable. Unfiltered. Made in amphorae. Drink now.

93 points Claire Nesbitt for James Suckling, December 2024

Very mineral and restrained. White pepper, orchid, chalk and fennel with a whisper of green apple. Taut, youthful and etched on the palate, it nevertheless possesses weight and power in the mid before giving way to grainy, chewy phenolics on the back. These will ease with the passage of time as the wine settles into its skin. A lighter but detailed wine which is all about purity and negative space. Intriguing. This will flesh out with mid-term cellaring but possibly sacrifice some of its etched beauty in the process. Drink to 2033.

93 points Stephen Wong MW for The Real Review, October 2024

Aromas of pineapple, mango and white peach get a lift from musky floral notes, complemented by Japanese citrus. Chalky and flinty, the flavours have a savoury grip and grainy phenolics. This has lovely tension stretching the fruit, it’s refreshing, driven and with real textural interest.

That savoury and textural character craves something with a bit of richness to meet it, and the tropical fruit gives plenty to play with. Seared scallops in brown butter, a green mango and prawn salad with nuoc cham, or labneh with roasted stone fruit and toasted almonds all find something to hold onto in the wine's fruit and mineral spine.

More about this wine

The fruit was grown in the Rosie's Block section of the Neudorf vineyard in Nelson’s Upper Moutere, hand-harvested and whole bunch pressed before fermenting in clay amphora on high solids with indigenous yeasts. Ten months of full malolactic and maturation on gross lees followed before the wine was blended in stainless steel and allowed a further two months on fine lees. The wine was then bottled unfined and coarse filtered.

About Neudorf

Tim and Jude Finn planted the first vines at Neudorf in 1978. Their daughter Rosie is now the face of the winery, assisted by a team led by GM and winemaker Todd Stevens and viticulturist Stef Brockley.

Nelson’s Moutere Hills are in the centre of the northern tip of the South Island of New Zealand. The maritime climate here is heavily influenced by the Pacific and enjoys some of the highest sunshine hours in the country. The dry-grown, organic vineyard is planted on a gentle north-facing slope, the vines rooted in deep kaolinitic clay gravel soils.