Chardonnay, Kidnappers Vineyard, Craggy Range 2025
Decanter World Wine Awards 91 points
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Why this wine
Craggy Range is one of the few New Zealand wineries that can be relied on across an entire range, and Kidnappers is where its Chardonnay grows almost on the beach. Sixteen months in barrel gives the wine savoury depth without burying the citrus the sea breezes protect. It is a serious white at a price that does not feel like one.
At a glance
- Grape
- Chardonnay
- Region
- Hawke's Bay, New Zealand
- Alcohol
- 12.50%
- Body
- Medium
- Acidity
- High
- Sweetness
- Dry
- Drink
- Medium (5-10 yrs)
- Pairs with
- Seafood, Poultry & Pork, Rich & Creamy Dishes
How it tastes
Lime zest, white blossom and a salty note of oyster shell on the nose, then a palate where citrus fruit is layered with the savoury, nutty character its time in barrel has given it. Medium-bodied and taut, with bright acidity carrying a long finish. Chardonnay 100%.
The producer
Craggy Range was established in 1998 by Terry and Mary Peabody, who chose the land below Te Mata Peak in Hawke's Bay after looking down on it from the summit, and the winery now draws on estate vineyards in Hawke's Bay, Martinborough and Marlborough; it is certified by Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand. This Chardonnay comes from the Kidnappers Vineyard on the Hawke's Bay coastline at Te Awanga, where warm, sunny springs and autumns meet summers tempered by sea breezes, herbicides are being cut back in favour of cover crops and an organic-based spray programme, and the fruit is picked by hand. It was whole-bunch pressed and fermented with selected yeasts in a mix of French and Austrian puncheons, foudres and stainless steel, put through partial malolactic conversion, then aged sixteen months in oak barriques of which 18% were new.
Food and drinking
Serve at 10-12°C. Good with grilled snapper, scallops, roast chicken or a creamy leek tart. Drink over the next five to ten years; no decanting needed. Under screwcap.