Light yellow colour, with a big, rich, complex and quite oaky bouquet. A big, weighty, strongly worked style of chardonnay with generosity and opulence. It's a full-bodied, full-on style with plenty of oak, richness and winemaking complexities. It will reward another year or two in the cellar.
95 points, Huon Hooke (October 2017)
Chicken stock and roasted hazelnut aromas, multi-layered bouquet, rich and yet refined. A gorgeous wine, retaining its freshness, brightness and lightness of being while delivering great layered complexity. Long, long carry, which is effortlessly precise and harmonious.
97 points, Huon Hooke (January 2019)
Rich, weighty chardonnay with intense toast, mineral, oyster shell, white peach, nectarine, gingernut biscuit and spicy French oak flavours. A less focused, broader style than usual, with good complexity and obvious power.
97 points, Bob Campbell MW (September 2017)
Very typical of the Moutere style with stone fruit, mineral, biscuit and brioche character supported by spicy oak. Quite Burgundian but in the shadow of the great 2014 and 2015 vintages. No change to the score. lovely wine.
97 points, Bob Campbell MW (December 2018)
A very impressive wine for the density and depth of ripe peach and pear fruits. The nose has terrific purity and clarity. The palate has an effortless, gliding feel to it, concentrated but so balanced it's seemingly weightless. Finishes tight and tidy.
94 points, Nick Stock (December 2017)
Complex bouquet, enticing and beguiling aromas of ripe orchard fruits – white peach, pear and pear skin, red apple then a fine mix of lees, sweet spicy oak and light sulphide attack. On the palate – delicious, youthful, tense, textured and packed with subtly and intrigue. Fruit flavours reflect the nose - with an added citrus layer - as do the spices of oak and lees textures. Complex and lengthy finish. A stunning example.
97 points, Cameron Douglas MS
This is a well-concentrated, rich, complex layered Chardonnay with stonefruit, mealy and nutty notes on a fresh, vibrant palate.
19 points, Raymond Chan
The 2016 Moutere Chardonnay was one of the best Kiwi Chardonnays when I used to cover New Zealand a decade ago, and thankfully, little seems to have changed. It has a beautiful, very well-defined, quite mineral-driven bouquet that is understated at first but then gathers momentum in the glass, picking up hints of white peach and flint. The palate is very well defined, with subtle citrus fruit, pineapple and quince notes on the entry, a fine bead of acidity and a touch of almond and orange pith towards the long finish. Superb.
93 points, Neal Martin (November 2018)
