Clark Estate Penelope Jane Chardonnay 2021

The 2021 Penelope Jane Chardonnay is a beautifully balanced and powerful wine. Lovely citrus and nectarine flavours are perfectly integrated with hints of oak to create a fresh but complex wine.

The Upper Awatere is known for its rugged soils and unforgiving climate. Strong winds, scorching daytime temperatures, and cool clear nights contribute to the development of the amazing flavours found in all our wines. Our single-vineyard Chardonnay is crafted by this terroir, creating wines that are pristine, refined and well balanced, with a strong sense of place.

Our Chardonnay vines are still young, growing in an area with more stones than soil. Each year the vines have to survive through harsh frosts, strong winds and stony soils. As a result, yields are always low as the vines divert their energy into surviving rather than producing a heavy crop. The low yields combined with the long growing season of the Upper Awatere valley intensifies the fruit flavours ready for harvest in late March.

Our style of Chardonnay is driven by the cool climate of the Awatere Valley and the use of older oak barrels. The subtle oak flavours integrate beautifully with the citrus and lighter stone fruit flavours of the fruit. Once ferment is complete, the wines are kept in barrel for several months maturing on the yeast lees. Before bottling, the wines undergo Malo-Lactic fermentation, although this is kept to around 30% so as not to dominate the final wine.