2013 Cypress Terraces, Chardonnay, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand (from £20.49 to £21.99, Bordeaux Index, , 020-7269 0703; New Zealand Cellar, thenewzealandcellar.co.uk, 020-3662 7000; Wine Utopia, 01962-706666; Woodbridge Wine, , 01394-388446).
This was the most compelling white wine at the recent Annual New Zealand Wine Trade Tasting. After selling the renowned Hawke's Bay winery Te Awa, in 2002, Gus and Mel Lawson developed a small hillside farm up the road. The vines are now 14 years old and the wines are already staggeringly serious.
What I didn't know was that superstar winemaker Rod McDonald was making the wines there. Rod is phenomenally talented and I sensed some real flair and control in these wines, but I couldn't for the life of me think who could build this sort of complexity and suave charm in a Hawke's Bay chardonnay.
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The Terraces vineyard sits on top of Roy's Hill, overlooking the Gimblett Gravels sub-region and it is prime real estate. This wine is hand-picked, whole bunch pressed, 100% barrel fermented in French oak and then matured for ten months on its gross lees. This is benchmark winemaking.
The stock has just arrived in the UK and I cannot recommend it enough. After the damp squib of the 2013 Burgundy vintage, here is a stellar 2013 Chardonnay and it's only 20 quid!
Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (matthewjukes.com).
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