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The grapes are sourced from a variety of sites on the Beamsville Bench in Niagara. Gentle, whole-cluster pressing of the fruit into horizontal stainless steel tanks where fermentation starts with ambient yeasts. Fermenting juice is then transferred to 500L French oak barrels to complete ferment. About 30% new oak, the rest 2nd, 3rd, 4th fill or older. Wine underwent malolactic fermentation naturally in barrel; wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered with a minimum sulphur dose before bottling.
Reviews
Tamlyn Currin , Jancis Robinson
17.5/20
Baked bananas and grilled clotted cream on the nose, although there is a drift of smoke and as you tilt the glass into your mouth, there is a very distinct, unusual orange-blossom and lily-of-the-valley perfume. The palate is a rush of glorious gunflint-struck clementine and Seville orange and smoke cumin tucked into sliced yuzu and lemon-graphite-ice shards.
Complex, unfettered but not chaotic, layered but not linear (not at all, this wine glimmers like moth wings in helical
spirals). This is exciting!
Rhys Pender , Wine Align
90/100
Reductive in style showing some sulfur and pithy notes along with green apple and lime. Dry, crisp, racy and lean on the palate, juicy and fresh with more lime, minerality and a zippiness almost Riesling like. Lacks a touch of weight but very intense.
The grapes are sourced from a variety of sites on the Beamsville Bench in Niagara. Gentle, whole-cluster pressing of the fruit into horizontal stainless steel tanks where fermentation starts with ambient yeasts. Fermenting juice is then transferred to 500L French oak barrels to complete ferment. About 30% new oak, the rest 2nd, 3rd and 4th fill. Wine undergoes MLF naturally in the spring; wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered with a minimum sulphur dose before bottling.
Reviews
John Szabo MS , WineAlign
92
Hardie's 2015 Niagara chardonnay has a lovely, intriguing nose off the top very much in the house style, which is to say flinty-smoky, though not without charming perfumed. There's a surprising amount of sweet fruit on display, with almost riesling-esque floral, ripe stone fruit notes. The palate is mid-weight (though with only 11.9% alcohol declared), with balanced acids and big flavour depth. Creamy-lees flavour is nicely dialed in, and a touch of volatility lifts the back end further. Lovely stuff. Tasted June 2017. Value Rating: ***
Michael Godel , WineAlign
92
Norman Hardie’s 2015 Niagara is a reductive yellow goddess dressed chardonnay, connected to the fullest of its fruit, (slowly developed) creamy malolactic, touchstone acidity and grape tannic ability. There is this understated feeling in the throes of richness that the winemaker and the place always seem to agree upon. The display window celebrates and proudly promotes the somewhereness of this '15 chardonnay. It is never a matter of Niagara versus County, there is little substance to be found, nor is it a necessary point of discussion worth investigating. It's just highway that separates the two. Both are children of the Norm, both deserving of estate credibility and here, with this next excellent Niagara, taking the Hardie progression one step further. Drink 2017-2022. Tasted June 2017.
Jamie Goode , WIneAnorak
94
11.9% alcohol. So fresh, expressive and refined with lovely spicy mineral notes on the nose. Lovely lemony brightness with a lovely brisk acid structure. This is superbly complex with lovely precision and purity, and a saline edge. Will age beautifully. 94/100
Reviews
Jamie Goode , WIneAnorak
96
In magnum, under cork. This has an extra six month’s age, and was released for the 10th anniversary in 2017. Superbly refined and taut still, with lovely refined citrus fruit. This has a bit of saltiness and some mineral hints. Superb balance and precision, with just a hint of reductive character. Has some richness, too, with hints of nuts, spice and creaminess.
Grapes were sourced from four very mineral driven sites form both the top and base of the Niagara escarpment. The wines were fermented using indigenous yeast. Fermentation began in stainless steel tanks and finished in 500L French Oak barrels, 30% of which were first fill. Natural Malolactic fermentation completed in the spring of 2015. Wine was bottle unfined and unfiltered.
Reviews
John Szabo MS , WineAlign
92
Flinty and tight in the classic Hardie style, this is yet another excellent wine in a string of great vintages from this leading PEC-based estate. I love the firm, very tight acids, wrapped around a solid, fleshy, genuinely concentrated core of just-ripe orchard and tree fruit, and grapefruit-citrus. The finish lingers admirably. Really fine, classy wine, good enough to make a chardonnay lover out of you, again.
Grapes were sourced from four very mineral driven sites form both the top and base of the Niagara escarpment with the idea that the variety of sites add a layers of complexity. The wines were fermented using 100% indigenous yeast from the field in which they were grown. Fermentation began in stainless steel tanks and finished in primarily 500L French Oak barrels. The wine sat sulphur free until malo was completed, almost a year to the day that the grapes were harvested. Wine is bottle unfined and unfiltered.
This wine shows wonderful richness combined with lovely elegance, truly capturing the ideal growing season. A warm summer with a cool and dry fall. On the nose there is a great stony line combined with riper fruit textures. The palate is seamless from start to finish, with a mouthwatering richness and an underlying acidity that gives the wine phenomenal elegance and grace. Drink now or cellar through 2017.
Reviews
Will Lyons , The Wall Street Journal
An utter star from Norman Hardie. This vibrant Chardonnay from Niagara has the structure, texture and mouth-feel of a top Puligny-Montrachet. Elegant, with plenty of crisp, white fruit, this is a serious wine that will make you fall in love with Chardonnay again.
Jancis Robinson
16.5+
Low-intervention wine-making and no filtering. Very serious, precise wine that benefits from aeration (a good sign). In fact I think I would decant it before serving. Very fine and refreshing with excellent balance. Not a lot of alcohol but impressive extract and concentration. Long.
This Niagara-produced Chardonnay is one of the most light and refreshing wines we have ever made from Niagara. The bouquet is perfumed with delicate citrus notes that follow through to a velvety mid-palate. A strikingly elegant wine that finishes with refreshing citrus.
We have chosen very limestone and clay driven vineyards in Niagara that when coupled with a cool climate allow us to make elegant and mineral driven Chardonnay. Aged in the very best 500 litre barrels, and fermented with 100% natural yeast. We make chardonnay for those who do not like chardonnay. The summer of 2010 was a hot year with the worry of losing acidity as harvest approached. We were very vigilant in monitoring phenolics at this crucial time and picked our Chardonnay 2 weeks earlier than normal. The early pick combined with lots of lees during fermentation in horizontal tanks helped preserve the acidity and characteristic mineral element of our vineyards in Niagara. The wine was then barrel aged primarily in 500 litre French oak barrels for 10 months. We had our earliest harvest ever for our Niagara Chardonnay - attained phenolic ripeness by mid-September.
Reviews
Tony Aspler
90/100
Straw colour with a bouquet of fennel, vanilla oak and caramel; apple butter flavour, full on the palate, well balanced with a dry, crisp finish
Jamie Goode , The Wine Anorak
93/100
‘This is one of the wines I am most proud of,’ says Norm. ‘It’s not the best wine, but we did everything in a hot year to make this work.’ It’s the only wine he has ever made over 13% alcohol, at 13.1%. Ripe white peach and pear fruit. Generous and rich with some spicy structure and nice freshness. Lovely texture: broad but not blowsy. Stylish.
