Greywacke Chardonnay 2023 by Kevin Judd from Marlborough is a powerful, wild‑ferment chardonnay that’s rich, complex and seriously food‑friendly – proper benchmark Kiwi chardy. This 2023 Greywacke Chardonnay opens with lively citrus, nectarine and grapefruit, layered over crème anglaise, praline, beeswax, lemon butter, roasted almond and flinty, struck‑match minerality.

On the palate it’s full‑bodied and creamy, with ripe nectarine, pear and dried honey flowing into roasted nuts, lemon curd and gun‑flint savouriness. Wild‑yeast fermentation in French oak and 11 months on lees give a lactic, mealy complexity, fresh acidity and an energized, long, envelope‑style finish that will drink beautifully now and over the next 5–7 years.

I’d be lining Greywacke Chardonnay 2023 up with roast chicken, pork belly, buttery lobster, scallops, crayfish or rich mushroom and pumpkin dishes. It’s a cracking option for chardonnay fans chasing intensity, flinty reduction and modern Burgundian‑inspired structure from Marlborough.