Methode Traditionnelle

Chardonnay

Sauvignon Blanc

Aromatic

Dessert Wine

Rose

Red Wine
 

Bouldevines 2008 Marlborough Chardonnay

This week’s selection for my Weekly Wine is a chardonnay from Marlborough boutique, family owned winery, Bouldevines. It also happens to be Bouldevines co-owner Janey Walsh’s favourite wine. “I enjoy a good Chardonnay,” she says. “Fortunately for me the variety does very well on our Bouldevine vineyard!”

Janey and Philip Walsh have a long history of growing grapes as contract growers. They have been growing grapes on part of a property first owned by their family in 1935, for over thirty years. After Philip suffered a debilitating accident in 2004, they wanted to secure their future so decided to release their own wines. In 2005, the first wines were launched under the Bouldevines label.

As the name would suggest, there are many boulders in the soil of the vineyard that adjoins Dog Point Road. These add character to the wine, while the character of the vines, turning adversity into advantage also reflects the attitudes of the owners.

The 2008 vintage was not one easily forgotten in Marlborough with variable weather making it one of the shortest in Marlborough’s history and also caused all varieties to reach ripeness at around the same time. It became a challenge to decide just when to pick. Because of the reduced cropping methods used at Bouldevines though, their grapes were safely in the winery before the weather difficulties that plagued other wineries and the end of the 2008 Marlborough season had a chance to take effect.

Fruit for their Chardonnay comes from a single block on the western corner of their vineyard. It is planted in a 2/23 clone which is a reselection of the venerable Mendoza clone which doesn’t suffer from the poor berry set of its predecessor. The vines have been trained into vertically shoot positioned canopies. For this vintage, they were severely fruit thinned while the canopies were kept full to allow for fruit shading, which meant that the fruit still maintained a taut acid structure when maximum ripeness was reached.

Once harvested, the fruit was destemmed and gently pressed before being cold settled. The resulting clear juice was inoculated with yeast at cool temperatures. Once the juice began ferment, half underwent barrel ferment, while the rest remained in tank. The wine was inoculated for a second time and underwent malolactic fermentation and allowed partially to finish. This gave the wine the typical characters of malolactic fermentation while still retaining some of its crisp acidity. The wine was then left to mature in French oak for 10 months before being minimally filtered and bottled.

I found the 2008 Bouldevines Marlborough Chardonnay to have a bouquet of grapefruit and citrus with peach and some savoury notes. On the palate I found it to exhibit flavours of grapefruit, mandarin and peach with buttery notes and slight hints of spice coming through in the long lingering finish. It has a fine acidity and is a very agreeable chardonnay.

I would recommend this wine with roast chicken and herbs or grilled fish. I would also expect the flavours to develop further over the next five years with careful cellaring.

Reviewed by Stephen Clark (14/6/2010)
 

>> Back to Wine List <<