Tony Bish “Heartwood” Chardonnay

Tony was originally the founding winemaker for Sacred Hill before he went out on his own to create Tony Bish Wines and The Urban Winery in Napier. He makes a selection of different Chardonnays and this Heartwood wine is what he calls a “tale of two terroirs”. Those two terroirs are his vineyards in Hawkes Bay and the great oak forests of France. As he explains, “when juice is put into an oak barrel there is considerable impact. The average age of trees harvested for wine barrels is 140 years and the oak is seasoned for a further 3 years before being used. All of this adds depth, interest and appreciation of the winemaking process when using barrels”.