Winter is a time where everyone changes their wine drinking habits, or at least you should. They say we should eat seasonally, I think we should drink seasonally as well.

While more red, and more bigger reds, are an obvious fireside partner for winter, there are plenty of occasions where a white wine is called for. And because we have moved on from the lighter fare of the summer, and the bright, fresh juicy Sauvignon Blanc’s that are consumed, so our white wines should change. The wines need to be richer and bit more cuddly than the sleek wines of summer, and thinking about this I sometimes yearn for a good old fashioned Chardonnay. These are the Chardonnay's we used to make, all ripe peachy fruit and lots of toasty sweet oak and creamy/buttery notes from a full blown winemaking approach. We've been on a mission to make fresher, classier, more refined Chardonnays, and there is no doubt we are better for that. However everyone has a dark side, a little love of the retro, and I say let it shine and bring back the big boys to the Chardonnay table!

At Craggy we used to make a wine called Seven Poplars Chardonnay from a vineyard in behind Taradale on the road to the Puketapu pub. Now unfortunately it is in apple trees, however the release of our Seven Poplars was eagerly anticipated by a whole bunch of Chardonnay lovers who used to drink big rich Chardonnays like Corbans "Private Bin", or Morton Estate "Black Label", or Delegats "Reserve" in the 80's and early 90's. These sort of wines are really hard to find now, and even those you do are toned down retro.

Steve Smith - Wine & Viticulture Director