Mt. Beautiful Chardonnay 2014
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Tasting
Panel -
Wilfred
Wong
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Pair with: roasted chicken, salmon dishes, Coquille St. Jacques, and a playful perspective about life.
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
New Zealand is not all about Sauvignon Blanc. This South Island Chard is crisp and bright with racy acidity and lovely notes of white peach.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Whenever I choose a Chardonnay in the $20 to $25 range, I ask myself, "Is this going to be over-oaked in its flavors, heavy on the palate, or sweet in the finish?" Whatever the wine's place of origin—France, the USA, South America, Australia, or elsewhere—I often find these common characteristics. Fortunately, the 2014 Mt. Beautiful Chardonnay is not that way. This wine is delicious wine and stays true to the grape variety's classic fruit aromas and flavors—core fruit, dried peaches, and a hint of refreshing minerality. Drinks well now. (Tasted: October 21, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
Other Vintages
2019-
Wine
Enthusiast
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Wine
Spectator
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Wine
Enthusiast -
Wilfred
Wong -
Wine
Spectator
- Decanter
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James
Suckling
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Wine &
Spirits
Mt. Beautiful lies in the heart of North Canterbury, on the South Island of New Zealand. The Kaikoura Seaward Mountains lie to the North, while the Waiau River borders us to the North as well. The vineyard rests under its namesake, Mt. Beautiful. Mt. Beautiful crowns the coastal range to the East, and protects the vineyards from the ocean winds. Located about an hour and a half north of Christchurch on Route 1, Mt. Beautiful Winery is on the Northern fringe of the North Canterbury growing region. Lauded by many critics as New Zealand’s most underestimated wine region, it’s a place that has begun to get some incredible recognition. Mt. Beautiful’s wines are a stunning representation of the splendor of the region. The Sauvignon Blanc reaches through the herbaceous spectrum to carry flavors of tropical fruits, the Riesling is ripe with mandarin and citrus, the Pinot Gris is lush and exhibits a creamy mid palate, the Pinot Noir is soft, juicy, and inviting with a hint of cherry, and the Chardonnay is bursting with aromatics of ripe apple and stone fruits while finishing with a clean and crisp flint like minerality.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
On the central eastern coast of the South Island, Canterbury includes a collection of small and varied subregions. The region is cool and dry with low rainfall and light, infertile soils. Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir are well-suited here, with Pinot Gris coming in third place.