The Astrolabe Province Marlborough Chardonnay is made from grapes grown at Astrolabe Farm Vineyard in the lower Wairau Valley and Wrekin Vineyard in the Southern Valleys. We hand-pick the grapes and whole-cluster press to reduce phenolic structure and allow attractive grape solids fermentation characters to come through. The wine is then aged in French-oak barrels, lees-stirred and allowed to undergo malolactic fermentation to give structure, body and complexity. I enjoy complementing the natural stonefruit and citrus flavours of our Chardonnay grapes by building aromatic complexity and texture during winemaking to craft an elegant, dry and mouthfilling wine.