New Zealand has become synonymous with Sauvignon Blanc, but, in recent years, leading voices have increasingly claimed that Chardonnay is the country’s finest white variety. Is the assertion warranted?
The history of New Zealand wine is short, and its relationship with Chardonnay is even shorter. This remote Southern Hemisphere country wasn’t encountered by western explorer Abel Tasman until 1642, and, by that time, European vines had already put down roots in South America, courtesy of Spanish conquistadors and missionaries. During the same period, sources from southern Burgundy claimed that the variety producing the best local wine was “chardonnet.” There were no Vitis vinifera vines in New Zealand until 1819, and it’s highly improbable that the first 100 vines included Chardonnay.
A wine culture was difficult to establish in a British colony filled with settlers who were accustomed to drinking beer, whiskey, and perhaps the occasional Sherry. A strong temperance movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries—which led to dry districts across the country and culminated in a nationwide vote on temperance in 1919—further stymied the success of the fledgling wine scene. Fortified Port and Sherry imitations were most popular with drinkers until relatively recently.
At Kumeu River Wines, a Chardonnay specialist, fortified wines were once an important part of the range, but, in the mid-1980s, production ceased as the brand shifted its focus to table wines. Melba Brajkovich, Kumeu River’s managing director, remembers telling customers that they would no longer be making fortified wines. She comments, “It was a real wrench to get rid of it, because it was such a large part of our customer base. Some said, ‘What are we going to drink now?’”
Today, Chardonnay is a small but established part of the New Zealand wine portfolio, but it was not until 1990 that it became one of the country’s top five varieties. In 1960, as much as half of the country’s vineyard was planted with hybrid grapes: Albany Surprise, Baco 22A, Seibel 5455, Chasselas, and Black Pinot. Palomino was also popular among Sherry imitators. By 1975, New Zealanders had planted 52 hectares (128 acres) of Chardonnay, mainly in the Hawke’s Bay region, but there were still 500 hectares (1,240 acres) of hybrids. In the mid-1980s, a government-led vine pull scheme precipitated the end of the hybrid age in favor of Vitis vinifera. The 1970s and 1980s marked the new modern era for winemaking in the country, with several scientific reports endorsing grapegrowing on New Zealand’s South Island, which had until then been deemed too cold to grow grapes. This prompted the planting of the first vineyards in Marlborough, Nelson, North Canterbury, and Central Otago, with a fruit salad of varieties in these virgin lands.
Chardonnay was well liked for its versatility in the more temperate North Island and the cool climate of the South. In the final years of the 20th century, Müller-Thurgau finally gave up its grip on New Zealand’s wine industry, and Chardonnay took its slot on the grape podium as the country’s leading variety. It remained in this position for several years before the production of Sauvignon Blanc skyrocketed.
The frenzy that was New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc—particularly Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc—first started in the early 1980s in the UK. Despite predictions of its demise, global demand continues to rise. New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is inimitable, with its green yet ripe-fruited character and its bright freshness. Many wine producers across the world have tried to emulate it, such is its success, but the combination of the region’s cool climate, abundant sunshine hours, intense UV radiation, clean air, and free-draining soils results in a style that is hard to replicate.
For Chardonnay to succeed in New Zealand, forging an identity for the category is essential. Because of the grape’s ability to adapt to many climates and its greater malleability in the cellar, it is so widely planted globally that it is difficult to find a gap in the Chardonnay-drinking market.
Murray Cook, a winemaker at Dog Point Vineyard, in Marlborough, admits, “Every wine-producing country in the world probably makes a Chardonnay, so it’s a crowded market. New Zealand’s biggest export market, the USA, also makes large volumes of Chardonnay, so it could be seen as taking coals to Newcastle, and when New Zealand is thought of, it’s often led by Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir.” Indeed, in the US, New Zealand accounts for close to one in two bottles of Sauvignon Blanc sold off-premise and 57% in the on-premise sector.
Chardonnay also plays second fiddle to Sauvignon Blanc for financial reasons. In 2023, a grapegrower in Marlborough earned NZ$32,191 on average from a hectare of Sauvignon Blanc, whereas a hectare planted with Chardonnay earned NZ$23,199. In Marlborough, Sauvignon Blanc vines typically yield almost twice as much fruit as Chardonnay, and this extra volume accounts for the nearly NZ$10,000 more earned per hectare. When it comes to money making, it’s not difficult to see why Sauvignon Blanc accounts for 82% of plantings in the region and why its plantings have surged while those of Chardonnay have dropped slightly. From 2014 to 2023, Chardonnay fell from 3,346 hectares to 3,149 hectares (8,268 acres to 7,781 acres), while Sauvignon Blanc increased from 20,029 hectares to 27,084 hectares (49,493 acres to 66,926 acres).
As a result of the financial incentive that growing Sauvignon Blanc offers compared with that of Chardonnay, it’s up to a die-hard bunch of Chardonnay-loving Kiwis to plant Chardonnay or encourage growers to plant it by paying a premium for it. MW Sophie Parker-Thomson, a cofounder of Blank Canvas, in Marlborough, is one of those enthusiasts, making two single-vineyard expressions in the winery’s bijou range.
She explains, “To justify planting Chardonnay, we have to pay upwards of NZ$3,500 per ton of fruit.” Over a five-year average, a ton of Sauvignon Blanc costs NZ$1,985. She continues, “We would love to have more Chardonnay to make a third single-vineyard [wine], as Chardonnay is our reputation builder. I have to fiercely allocate our Reed Vineyard Chardonnay, as I could sell it three times over.”
Chardonnay is not an easy grape to grow. It buds early, and, in a cool climate such as that of Marlborough, this results in the risk of spring frost. It is highly susceptible to powdery mildew, and downy mildew has also become an issue in the past couple of years. Yet New Zealand growers are making a concerted attempt to master Chardonnay. The country put on its first Chardonnay Symposium in October 2023, in Hawke’s Bay, and a second in September 2024. The Marlborough wine community, which has been running Pinot Bootcamp for local winemakers over the past decade, decided to switch varieties in 2022, and its focus is now Chardonnay.
The deeper that winemakers delve into understanding Chardonnay, the greater the level of fine tuning, and that’s where clonal selection comes in. The Mendoza clone was first imported into New Zealand from Australia in 1971 and is the main component in many of the country’s most awarded Chardonnays: Kumeu River Maté’s Vineyard Chardonnay, Ata Rangi Masters Chardonnay, Neudorf Moutere Chardonnay, and Felton Road Chardonnay Block 2 and Block 6, to name but a few. It is idiosyncratic: it is particularly prone to hens and chicks, which causes uneven berry size and uneven ripeness. The resulting wines often display tropical fruit flavors alongside crunchy acidity, almost as if there are sweet and sour components. It is also prone to leaf roll virus, which delays ripening and reduces yields. Leaf roll is a bigger issue for red varieties, where lower sugars, higher acids, and unripe tannins can lead to unpleasant styles, but earlier ripening whites, particularly in warm climates, can be successfully made year after year if the grower is willing to accept lower yields.
A greater diversity of clonal material is now available. At the last count, the country’s leading nursery lists 16 different Chardonnay clones that are propagated in New Zealand. While Mendoza’s popularity is well established, the country’s winemakers have long relied on 6, 15, and B95, which were imported in the 1980s from UC Davis. UCD 6 was the first of the trio and was chosen as a workhorse to produce reliable yields. It was perhaps not the most exciting choice and is often used today for producing sparkling wine. In 1985, clone 15 followed, and while it produces more intensely concentrated wines, it is not as high yielding as 6, and it can be prone to poor fruit set and hens and chicks. Its loose bunches are prized to avoid rot. In contrast, the tight, large bunches of B95, which arrived in 1988, can lead to bunch rot, and crops must be controlled if it is to fulfill its potential of producing wines with weight, complexity, and balance. There are some producers who believe B95 is the leading rival to Mendoza.
In the past couple of decades, new ENTAV-INRA clones have been imported and propagated, perhaps offering a bright future: 548 and 1066 have been imported based on their successes in the production of Corton-Charlemagne. Most premium Chardonnay vineyards aged 15 years or more, however, are planted with a combination of Mendoza and the trio of 1980s imports.
In the cellar, there are endless choices for Chardonnay makers. Warren Gibson, the winemaker at Bilancia, in Hawke’s Bay, whose single-vineyard Chardonnays, Tiratore and Trelinnoe, are among the best in the country, says, “There are so many things you can do, but it’s also important not to do some things. You obviously need a good vineyard, but most of the making is in the first two days: picking [by hand], pressing, turbidity, going to barrel—and the right barrel—and having good species of yeast and bacteria.”
In a year with clean fruit, many premium producers, including Gibson, are running their unsettled juice with high turbidity straight to barrel to undertake an indigenous fermentation. There are other producers who steer clear of high-solids fermentations to avoid overly reductive characters. Kumeu River, for example, settles its wines overnight before moving them to barrel to avoid this tendency.
The use of barrels for Chardonnay fermentation might seem like a given today, but, in the 1980s, this was a novelty. Tim Finn, a cofounder of Neudorf Vineyards, recalls inviting neighbors over to admire the barrels he had purchased at the start of that decade. Originally, New Zealand Chardonnay was fermented in stainless steel before maturation in oak, but this led to oaky, oxidized wines. When it is fermented in barrel, the woody notes became better integrated. Today, barrel sizes vary, as they do in other Chardonnay-producing regions around the world, but there has been general adoption of 228-liter Burgundy barrels. There’s also a growing tendency toward larger-format oak, as well as a spawning of concrete eggs, and some winemakers produce unoaked styles, looking to Chablis for their inspiration.
Malolactic fermentation (MLF) is generally undertaken, especially on the South Island, where the natural acidity in the wines tends to be higher than it is on the North Island. While there’s been a trend in some quarters of Australia to undertake no or partial MLF, full malolactic is generally favored in the cooler New Zealand climate. Although the buttery character that is sometimes associated with MLF is out of fashion with winemakers, this dairy-like note—which results from a compound called diacetyl, a by-product of MLF—is avoidable. Stirring wine during MLF leads to more oxidative conditions, encouraging diacetyl production, and adding SO2 immediately after the completion of MLF may reduce the perception of diacetyl influence in the short term, but, over time, it encourages higher diacetyl levels. Thus, avoiding stirring and allowing the wines to sit unsulfured after MLF reduces the buttery effect.
Maturing the final wine on fine lees after fermentation creates a reductive environment, a common practice among premium New Zealand Chardonnay producers. MW Michael Brajkovich, the winemaker at Kumeu River, explains, “Even when they are dead, yeasts have been shown to consume diacetyl. So aging the wine on lees helps remove the mask of diacetyl and reveals many more of the inherently attractive fruit qualities of Chardonnay, which in many cases were hitherto hidden.”
Lees are reductive, however, and, in combination with a fashion for ferments that have higher solids, this results in a strong potential for overly reductive wines. A bit of flinty character can add complexity to a Chardonnay, but a strong and unpleasant struck-match flavor can be detrimental to wine quality, overpowering the finesse of the fruit. Over the past decade, there have been plenty of instances in which winemakers have taken the approach that if a little is good, a lot will be great, but this has led to many unpalatable wines. Marcel Giesen, the winemaker of both Giesen Wines and Bell Hill Vineyard, explains, “A quick way to minerality is via the sulfide road. I think the level of acceptability is what we need to get a handle on. But how much is too much? I must confess I am a sucker for sulfides. But I still want to see fruit, and I want to see the message that the vineyard had . . . rather than the yeast or the lack of nutrients [in the fermentation].”
Empyreumatic is the catchall descriptor for these flinty, smoky, or struck-match aromas, and, anecdotally, this quality is associated with barrel-fermented whites. Recent studies into the empyreumatic character of both Australian and New Zealand Chardonnay have been undertaken by the Australian Wine Research Institute. They have shown that empyreumatic aromas are caused by two thiols: 2-furylmethanethiol and phenylmethanethiol, identified as the compounds particularly linked to struck-match characteristics and to suppressing fruitiness. The studies also considered consumer style preferences, from fruity to flinty, and concluded, “Overall wines with low to moderate flint aroma were well accepted, while those with high flint intensity could be considered polarizing to consumers.” A combination of fruity characters allied with a complex but subtle flint character was deemed desirable.
New Zealand also makes sparkling wines, and Chardonnay, along with the country’s most planted red variety, Pinot Noir, is a key component. In 2022, 1.3 million liters of sparkling wine was exported, equivalent to 0.45% of total shipments leaving New Zealand ports. While the South Island’s cool climate is well suited to traditional method sparkling wine production, investment has not been forthcoming. The area is geographically isolated, and the cost of importing specialist equipment has been one of the factors thwarting sparkling wine’s success.
Many still wines destined to become sparkling in Marlborough are sent to Daniel Le Brun, a Champenois who moved to New Zealand in 1975, who has both the expertise and the necessary equipment to make these wines. He undertakes the tirage, disgorgement, and dosage for many Marlborough wineries and makes his own wine under his family label, No. 1 Family Estate. While a few Champagne houses have dipped their toes in New Zealand’s sparkling wine scene, it’s hardly for major financial gain: with a population of just over five million and wine consumption per capita in decline, the local market is not attractive. Further, the country’s success has been based on Sauvignon Blanc made in a style that is typically produced, sold, and often consumed within 12 months of the harvest. A sparkling wine that rests on lees for two or more years is difficult to get approved by the winery accountant.
There are a handful of very good Chardonnay–Pinot Noir blends, as well as blanc de blancs, but these wines are priced similarly to nonvintage Champagne in the United States and Europe, so it is challenging to find a compelling reason to list them in international markets.
The reputation of New Zealand Chardonnay and its future rest with still wines. Producers who are choosing the right site and the right clones and ensuring that the vines are carefully tended have the raw material to produce premium styles with concentration, texture, and scintillating acidity. Local winemakers, international critics, and fine-wine merchants are realizing there’s more to New Zealand whites than Sauvignon Blanc. But the Chardonnay drum will need to be beaten even more loudly to be heard above the cacophony that is Sauvignon Blanc.
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I don't believe Chasselas is considered a hybrid grape. It's listed as one under the 'Brief History' section.