Chardonnay
⏳ Drinking Window
2023 - 2026
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roasted chicken with herbs, grilled salmon with lemon-butter sauce, or creamy pasta dishes like fettuccine Alfredo.
✨ Technical Specifications
Hawke's Bay, located on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island, is the historic cradle of the country's wine industry, with vines first planted by Marist missionaries in 1851. While Marlborough is famous for Sauvignon Blanc, Hawke's Bay is the undisputed spiritual home of premium New Zealand Chardonnay. Southbank Estate harnesses this exceptional terroir, characterized by warm, sunny days, cooling sea breezes, and diverse alluvial soils. Their Chardonnay is crafted to showcase the region's classic style: a harmonious balance of ripe stone fruits, such as peach and nectarine, layered with citrus brightness. Utilizing traditional winemaking techniques, including partial malolactic fermentation and judicious oak aging, the wine achieves a textured, creamy mouthfeel complemented by a fine, flinty minerality that reflects the ancient river terraces of the bay.
🍾 About the Producer
Southbank Estate is a New Zealand wine label established within the portfolio of Yealands Wine Group, located in Marlborough. Originating as part of the Ager Sectus portfolio before merging into Yealands, the brand focuses on expressing the vibrant, pure regional typicity of Marlborough's alluvial terroirs as well as Hawke's Bay. Sourced primarily from gravelly river terraces and rolling plains—most notably where the Waihopai River meets the Wairau, along with Awatere Valley parcels—the vines benefit from high sunshine hours, diurnal temperature shifts, and well-draining soils. Viticulture adheres to New Zealand sustainable winegrowing principles, incorporating low-impact vineyard stewardship such as natural grazing. Vinified under Yealands' modern cellar regime, the wines undergo stainless-steel fermentation with skin contact to maximize primary aromatics. Benchmark releases include the flagship Southbank Estate Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, known for its crisp passionfruit, boxwood, and gooseberry profile, alongside a Hawke's Bay Chardonnay and a lively Sauvignon Blanc Rosé.