Wine Composition
100% Chardonnay
Winemakers Comments
The 2019 Valhalla has a wealth of ripe aromas; nectarine and grapefruit with complex layers of baking bread, cashew and flinty reductive elements. Rich and fulsome on the palate, with a spine of acidity harmoniously interwoven with richness and a ripe citrus finish. The Valhalla 2019 is beautifully composed and magnificently styled, an iconic Chardonnay for the ages.
Awards
Cam Douglas MS | 90 points
Technical Analysis
Alcohol Percentage
14.36%
TA
7.7 g/l
pH
3.19
RS
0 g/l
Cellar Techniques
2019 was an exceptional vintage with a perfect fruit set in the Spring followed by a hot settled summer and practically no rain during the harvest months. All our Chardonnay parcels are hand harvested and macerated before pressing. The pressed juice is left un-fined in tank to begin spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts. The fermenting juice is then fed and transferred to 500 litre French oak puncheons for fermentation that is hot and fast. The wines are then left on gross lees until blending, small doses of sulphur dioxide are added at topping to help prevent the onset of malolactic fermentation, no lees stirring is carried out. Blending takes place in the New Year and bottling is carried out prior to the following vintage, approximately 11 months in oak.
Winemaker
Name: Duncan McTavish
Winery
The Man O’ War story begins with a special piece of land rich in history. Located at the eastern end of Waiheke Island, Man O’ War is a stunning array of coastal hillsides with high cliffs and pristine beaches forming a ruggedly beautiful coastline.
It was along this coastline that Captain James Cook came to anchor during his first voyage around the islands of New Zealand in 1769. Upon sighting the ancient stands of magnificent Kauri trees ashore, Cook noted in his journals that they would make ideal masts for the Man O’ War warships of the Royal Navy. Thus the name Man O’ War was bestowed upon this unique land.
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