While Sauvignon Blanc is New Zealand’s calling card, it’s clear that New Zealand produces a diverse range of grape varieties and wine styles. In fact, on the North Island it’s Chardonnay which has reached full potential for white varieties with some outstanding examples being produced from Auckland to Martinborough.
At the 2022 Decanter World Wine Awards, ‘there were high expectations for the Chardonnay category,’ commented Cameron Douglas MS, Regional Chair for New Zealand. ‘Chardonnay from New Zealand has without doubt earned its place in the wine cellars of Decanter readers,’ he continued.
Two Chardonnay wines from the North Island’s Hawke’s Bay were awarded 97 points; the judges noting the painstaking work of the region’s winegrowers who are continuing to push the quality of Chardonnay to ever-higher levels. Best in Show medal winner Church Road, Grand Reserve Chardonnay 2020 was described as a wine giving ‘a memorable classicism, Burgundy-lovers might note,’ with Platinum medal winner Villa Maria, Keltern Chardonnay 2020 showing a more opulent and textured style of this variety.
Scroll down to see New Zealand’s top North Island wines from DWWA 2022
Top-scoring wines from New Zealand’s North Island only begin…
