Vavasour is the original Winery of the Awatere Valley, planted back in 1986 when everyone thought of it as marginal land for grape growing. It was rugged country only suitable for sheep, surrounded by our highest and coldest mountain ranges, with a river carved out by ancient glaciers and a valley made of stones and alluvial soils. A young Stu Marfell grew up next door on a sheep farm. He was from a fifth generation sheep farming family and he remembers helping out at the winery from age nine...thirty vintages later he's now the Chief Winemaker and still just as passionate about this stunning place.

The Awatere Valley is cooler, drier, stonier than its neighbouring valley the Wairau. Vines have to set down their roots deeper here and therefore work harder prioritising fruit over foliage. The end result is more complexity and intensity from layers of flavour that the vine has laboured to produce. Planted in 1986 the vines are 34 years old now, and showing an intensity that can only come with vine age. Combine those two elements, and boy have we got a winner here!

Anna's Chardonnay is Stu's baby. It is premium Single Vineyard fruit, that is shown the utmost love in its production. It is handpicked and fermented in the finest French Oak Barriques and aged for 11 months with regular lees stirring to add to the natural texture from vine age.

And wow has that effort paid off! We've got a creamy chardonnay like you wouldn't believe, packed with an orchard full of summer's ripest stone fruit. It's flinty, mealy and toasty with hints of hokey pokey and caramel to finish.

It's big and it's bold, and yet it displays an elegance that can only be attributed to its masterful winemaking to keep all these elements perfectly in check. This vintage has not long been released, and yet it has picked up a Gold Medal already - first of many we predict!

This is Marlborough Chardonnay at its finest, with a WHOPPING 34% DISCOUNT!

Simply stunning, so don't delay as we have limited stocks. Cheers, Jeff