In late-2009, 10 years after the release of the iconic Bordeaux blend Tom, Church Road Winery put a new stake in the ground with the release of a white counterpart - Church Road Tom Chardonnay 2006.
The wine became a benchmark for serious New Zealand Burgundian-style whites, just as the original
Tom did for Bordeaux-style reds.
Produced in exceptional years, the second release of Church Road winery's meticulously crafted, prestige chardonnay is definitely a big event.
"Church Road Tom chardonnay is our flagship chardonnay, named in honour of the late Tom McDonald, an early pioneer of quality wine production in Hawke's Bay and the patriarch of the Church Road winery for over 50 years," said Chris Scott, senior winemaker for Church Road. "The wine is a barrel-by-barrel selection of the very best hand-harvested chardonnay parcels, blended to produce a wine of great depth and character. Only the very lowest-cropping blocks are considered for this wine, which in combination with gentle, low-intervention winemaking techniques produces wines with complexity, power and elegance," says Chris.
Each bottle of Church Road Tom chardonnay 2009 is individually numbered and hand-finished.
New Zealand's oldest winery, Mission Estate, has announced the inaugural release of Huchet - a tribute to one of the Mission's founding fathers Brother Cyprian Huchet. Over 170 years ago, a small, brave group of French missionaries sailed to New Zealand, bringing little more than their faith, their generations of winemaking experience and a few precious vine cuttings.
Cyprian, the son of a winemaker from the Loire region, followed them and later rose to the position of Mission Estate Cellar Master and guided the brothers toward commercial production. Fast forward to 2011, the Huchet syrah represents the epitome of winemaking prowess for Mission winemaker Paul Mooney and his team.
The Mission has been somewhat of a sensation in recent years for releasing incredible value-for-money sleepers like its Estate syrah and chardonnay at about $18 a bottle. But I'd been wondering if they'd stashed away anything secretly magnificent down in the cellar.
Now the mystery is solved.
