Wine Advisor
Pyramid Valley, Lion's Tooth Chardonnay 2022
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Erin Larkin
The 2022 Lion's Tooth Chardonnay is nutty, complex, wide and concentrated, with a stream of yellow fruits and briney acidity. It's a gorgeous wine, one that I recall with great fondness when I think of it. It has beeswax, lemongrass, yellow peach, mustard leaf/greens, curry leaf and saline threads woven through the finish. This is another great wine from this vineyard this year. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.
Reviewed by: Rebecca Gibb MW
The 2022 Chardonnay from the high-density Lion's Tooth parcel is an arresting wine that sucks you in but doesn’t spit you out. It’s not a wine you'll want to spit out either. This 2022 draws you in with its harmony, expansive nature, silken texture and sense of tranquility. It is subtle in its flavors - this is Chardonnay, after all – with flinty characters giving way to toasted nuts and oatmeal, lemon curd and nectarine. This is not a fruity but savory, restrained style that focused on texture over aromatics. Meditation for the mouth.
About the Producer
21st century when Mike and Claudia Weersing established the site and set about creating the vineyards over almost the next two decades. Pyramid Valley is one of New Zealand's great wine estates where altitude, limestone, slope, rock and rich soils meet to produce profound Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. 2017 marked the next step in Pyramid Valley’s history when the Weersings decided to sell to Steve Smith MW (perhaps best known for establishing Craggy Range) and his business partner and wildlife conservationist Brian Sheth. Steve and Brian are building on the work done by the Weersings to fulfil the full potential of the site. In 2018 they purchased a second vineyard in Lowburn, Central Otago called Manata Estate, an established vineyard that has produced exceptional Pinot Noir since 2002.
