Man O' War Valhalla Chardonnay 2022

Reviews

Cameron Douglas MS: 95/100.  A super inviting bouquet of brioche and baked goods, ripe yellow peach and baked apple, Brazil-nut and spice. Full-bodied and dry, there’s a light creamy texture then impacts from the fruit and fine tannins, acidity and smoky oak. Well made and rather delicious with best drinking from day of purchase through 2030.

James Suckling (JamesSuckling.com): 92/100. This is a very linear and flinty chardonnay with some gunpowder undertones. Dried lemon and apple notes on a medium body. Tight palate with a reserved, fruity finish.

Tasting note

Valhalla Chardonnay 2022 offers intense savoury aromas on the first pour with brioche, cashew, and hazelnut over ripe stone fruit characters with a final hint of smoke. The aromas shift seamlessly onto the palate which shows the richness of the vintage, well tamed by the acidity and finished with a salted caramel character confirming the influence of the Pacific Ocean on the viticulture. A beautifully balanced wine, complex and rewarding, a classic Valhalla Chardonnay.

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Type: White wine from New Zealand

Varietal: 100% Chardonnay

Food match: Match with poultry, pork and veal dishes.

Vineyards: Nikau, Little Beast, Lone Kauri, Root Rake, Gorse Laneway, Noises, Waiheke Island, New Zealand.

Vintage 2022: Vintage 2022 was a near perfect season with excellent conditions throughout the year with one slight hiccup being some salt damage to the leaf canopy in the vineyards due to a large storm in early February putting some pressure on the Chardonnay. To preserve the integrity of the fruit and to give the wine an element of refinement in a hot year the team carried out an early pick from the elevated hilltop vineyards which gives a fresh crisp edge to the wine. With the more sheltered sites we were able to push the fruit a little riper to provide richness and riper flavours.

Winemaking: All the fruit is hand harvested but then macerated to the press to increase the volume of solids in the juice. The juice is left to initiate a wild ferment on full solids, quickly being transferred to French puncheon (20% new, 80% seasoned) at the onset. Fast ferments are favoured and then ageing on gross lees right through to blending. No malolactic fermentation or lees stirring occurs.

Alcohol: 14% vol

Wine style:  dry

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulphites

Cellaring potential: 2027+

The Name Vahalla: The shining and golden hall in Norse Mythology where the souls of fallen Viking warriors chosen by Odin feasted with the gods, the name Valhalla is conferred upon the finest barrels of Chardonnay selected each vintage by winemaker Duncan MacTavish.

Produced and bottled by: Man O' War Vineyards, PO Box 1287, Shortland Street, Auckland 1140, New Zealand

Distributor: vinabonus GmbH, Simmedenweg 40, 34134 Kassel, Germany

To all Chardonnay wines