Church Road launches its McDonald series of wines, in honour of winemaker Tom McDonald, this month.
McDonald had been based at the site of the current Church Road winery, and the company credits him with the legacy of today’s Hawke’s Bay wines.
Says Church Road senior winemaker Chris Scott in a release, ‘We are becoming more confident with traditional French wine-making and this new series was produced utilizing some of these techniques. For example, for chardonnay and some of the sauvignon blanc, we allow spontaneous wild fermentation to occur, while reds are fermented in large oak cuves. Overall, there is less intervention and we bottle the red wines with minimal fining and filtration. It’s all about letting go of the reins and working with what nature provides.
‘Each vintage presents the team with different challenges which allows us the opportunity to continue learning and evolving our wines. We are excited about the opportunity to introduce this new range and continue Tom’s vision, combined with our own learnings, using traditional wine-making techniques with Hawke’s Bay’s vibrant fruit.’
The Church Road McDonald series features a 2009 merlot, 2009 cabernet sauvignon, 2011 sauvignon blanc, 2011 chardonnay, and 2009 pinot gris, each retailing at NZ$32·99.
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