Dog Point Vineyard, Chardonnay 2017

2/3 Mendoza, 1/3 B95 clones hand-picked from our home vineyard at 5 tonnes/ha (30hl/ha), from vines dating back to 1981. Fruit is whole bunch pressed and transferred directly to French oak barrels (15% new) and left to undergo indigenous primary and secondary malolactic fermentations for 18 months in barrel. Bottled without fining and with only minimal filtration.

Almost since its inception, Dog Point has been recognized as among the very top (arguably the very top) wine producers in New Zealand.Their two very different Sauvignon Blancs, their Pinot Noir, and their Chardonnay are all wines of astounding quality and complexity not just in the context of New Zealand wines, but globally. Their wines are hand-crafted from estate fruit grown on some of the oldest vines and best sites in Marlborough, some plantings dating back to the 1970s. These older well-established vines situated on free draining silty clay loams are supplemented with fruit from closely planted hillside vines. Yields are low, and the grapes are hand-harvested. That's our attempt at an understated New Zealand statement: few hand-pick fruit in New Zealand (95% is machine-harvested), and Dog Point's Sauvignon Blanc yields, for example, are 50% below the average for the region. Dog Point's focus on pruning, soil health through organic farming, use of native yeasts and for one wine selected neutral commercial yeasts, all point to a quality and detail-obsessed producer intimately familiar with its region. Dog Point is in fact the result of a collaboration between two Cloudy Bay alumni, enologist James Healy and founding viticulturalist Ivan Sutherland. Both left Cloudy Bay at the end of 2003, and the first vintage of Dog Point released was the 2002 vintage. The winemaking is non-interventionist, and all the wines (with the exception of the stainless steel Sauvignon Blanc) are given extended barrel aging with minimal racking and handling. Bottling is done without fining and with minimal filtration. The resulting wines are intense, complex, with racy natural acidity and ripe, full fruit flavours. Finally, the name Dog Point dates from the earliest European settlement of Marlborough and the introduction of sheep to the district. These were the days of few fences, of boundary riders and boundary-keeping dogs. Shepherd's dogs sometimes became lost or wandered off and eventually bred into a wild pack. Their home was a tussock and scrub covered hill, overlooking the Wairau Plains, designated by the early settlers as Dog Point.

We deliver throughout the United Kingdom with no minimum order requirement. For Mainland UK deliveries, the following charges apply:

• £15 for orders below £75
• £9.99 for orders below £125
• Free delivery on orders over £125

We also offer the option to collect from any of our shops at no extra cost. All Mainland UK orders should be delivered within 1-3 working days. Deliveries to Northern Ireland, the Scottish Highlands, and the British Isles may take 3-5 working days. For more information on UK delivery click here and for EU deliveries please click here.