Ata Rangi Pōtiki Chardonnay 2024

This cuvée comes from Martinborough, in the Wairarapa Valley, some 80 kilometres north-east of Wellington. It blends young plantings and older parcels from the Ata Rangi estate on the Martinborough Terrace, an ancient alluvial terrace of free-draining gravels. The cool, dry climate, with wide swings between day and night, preserves the acidity of the grapes.

The grapes were picked by hand from 4 to 27 March 2024, then whole-bunch pressed. The unsettled juice ferments entirely in 300-litre Burgundian barrels, 20% of them new, with its native yeasts and partial malolactic fermentation. The wine is aged for 11 months on the lees in barrel before bottling in September 2025.

This wine reveals notes of yellow nectarine, bergamot, baked apple, crushed shell, lanolin, sesame seed, miso and brioche. Yellow-fleshed fruit and citrus mingle with saline, savoury notes. The palate is deep and broad, threaded with a line of acidity that brings great freshness to the finish.

Introduced in 1819, winegrowing was greatly developed by Jean-Baptiste Pompallier, a French Marist missionary. Sent to Oceania in 1837, he settled there from January 1838 to develop New Zealand's vineyards. The first quality vineyards were established in the Hawke's Bay region in the 19th and early 20th centuries. After production setbacks caused first by phylloxera and then by the First World War, the vineyards began to expand again during the Second World War, when their area doubled. Today New Zealand has 10 major wine regions spread across the North and South Islands, the largest of which is Marlborough. Most of New Zealand's wine regions have a maritime climate. The country's long, narrow shape means that vineyards are never more than 120 km from the coast, and most are much closer than that (with the exception of the semi-continental Central Otago region). A backbone of mountains running down the centre of the country shields most of the main wine regions from the strong westerly winds of the Tasman Sea known as the "Roaring Forties". Because of these winds, there are few wine regions on New Zealand's west coast. The quality and reputation of New Zealand wines are well established. Indeed, the country produces some of the best and most acclaimed Sauvignon Blanc in the world. And it is no coincidence that New Zealand has made Sauvignon Blanc its symbol, just like its sheep, its kiwis and its legendary haka!