2024 Craggy Range Kidnappers Chardonnay

Craggy Range’s Kidnappers is one of the best value Chardonnays in the region.

It comes from the Te Awanga vineyard - right on the coast where the cool Pacific breezes slam into heavy clay soils. The 2024 season was a bit of a mixed bag with a windy spring keeping yields low, but a warm, dry summer got the fruit perfectly ripe while keeping the acid sharp. 

The winemaking team played it smart, hand-harvesting the bulk of it and pressing whole bunches into oak puncheons, with a portion kept in tank to lock in that freshness. It spent eight months in wood but only a tiny bit was new.

It’s definitely not a butter bomb. You get fleshy peach and pear fruit upfront, but it’s the texture underneath that really hooks you. There’s a distinct salty, chalky thread running through it that speaks to the ocean nearby. It finishes with a zest of lemon and mandarin. A lovely Chardonnay from one of the best producers in Hawke's Bay.