Rabbit Island Nelson Chardonnay 2025

85 Points (4 Stars) - Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, July 2025

Vineyard: Seifried Rabbit Island vineyard
Date of Harvest: Late March 2025
pH of Wine: 3.58
T.A of Wine: 4.7/L
Residual Sugar of Wine: Dry
Alcohol: 12.5%
Suitable for Vegetarian and Vegans: Yes

Our Rabbit Island vineyard is situated on a wide river flat, about 1.5km from the sea, which helps moderate temperatures. The soil is gravelly sandy loam, which marks the sites of Māori kumara (sweet potato) beds prior to European settlement in the early 1800s. The Māori transferred and spread fine gravel and sand over the land to provide suitable soils for their kūmara plantings. Scrub was burned to give ash and charcoal, which increased soil fertility and characteristic topsoil. This fertility is now considerably reduced due to modern farming. The soils are, however, very sandy and free-draining. The water table is relatively high, ensuring adequate underground water

Traditionally Chardonnay is made in an oaked style, however we are often asked: what does Chardonnay as a grape variety with no aging taste like? This is it!

The Chardonnay for our 2025 Nelson Rabbit Island Chardonnay was picked in pristine health. The grapes were then pressed, and the juice was fermented in stainless steel tanks to capture the natural tropical fruit characters of the grape variety, without influence from oak. The wine was blended, stablisied, and bottled in its youth capturing the fresh characters of this wine.