Smith & Sheth CRU Chardonnay 2018, Mangatahi, Hawkes Bay

Excellent

Vibrant, youthful and quite intensely scented bouquet with aromas of ripe yellow peach and lemon, baked apple and vanilla, raw brown sugar and toasty oak spices, smoky pebbly soil and site ideas, new oak and cashew nut. Complex and new. On the palate - delicious, new, youthful, packed with texture and flavour, complexity and charm. There’s no mistaking this is a young wine with fresh fruit flavours and acidity to match, the oak is intense with an abundance of fine wood tannins, but these will wane as the wine integrates. The flinty light lees layers along with cashew nut and wood spices add to the complexity. Long finish and well made. Best drinking from early 2021 through 2025+.

94 Points

Excellent