Elephant Hill’s 2019 Salomé Chardonnay, from Hawke’s Bay, was awarded the highest score (97/100 points) by Rebecca Gibb, a respected UK-based Master of Wine, in her latest New Zealand white wine report and tasting of over 250 wines published March 15th in the prominent international publication Antonio Galloni ‘Vinous’ www.vinous.com

The Elephant Hill wine topped a long list of wines from many of New Zealand’s renowned producers, including Felton Road, Craggy Range, Pyramid Valley, Neudorf, Cloudy Bay, Dog Point, Escarpment and Greywacke.

Rebecca says 'The 2019 Chardonnay Salomé is a robust mouthful of a wine. It is a focused, taut and well-defined Chardonnay. While only medium in body the fruit from the coastal vineyard of Te Awanga and the warmer, more inland parcel in the Bridge Pa Triangle combines to make a rich, intense yet refreshing, salty yet savoury expression. The high-quality French oak provides toasted-hazelnut-like characters alongside ripe nectarine fruit and smoky bacon. Startlingly good.'

Salomé is Elephant Hill’s top tier Chardonnay, named after a well-loved ancestor of the family who own the boutique winery located on the Te Awanga coast in Hawke’s Bay. The wine is produced from meticulously hand tended, hand harvested, low cropped Chardonnay mostly from Elephant Hill’s coastal Te Awanga ‘Sea’ vineyard, blended with Chardonnay from their Bridge Pa Triangle ‘Earth’ vineyard. The highest quality fruit combined with an outstanding 2019 vintage season has resulted in this exceptional wine.

Only 1320 bottles/110 cases of 2019 Salomé were produced. It is ready to drink now or will age gracefully till at least 2030. The recommended retail price is NZ$75.00 per bottle

This accolade for Elephant Hill continues the growing recognition that the Hawke’s Bay’s wine region and its quality-focussed Chardonnay producers have been garnering at home and around the world. They are fast showing that New Zealand has much more to offer besides the already globally recognised Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough.    

Rebecca Gibb MW is an award-winning wine journalist, author of The Wines of New Zealand and one of only 409 Masters of Wine in the world. A former winner of the UK’s Young Wine Writer of the Year and the inaugural Louis Roederer Emerging Wine Writer of the Year, Rebecca became a Master of Wine in 2015. In a record class of 24 graduates, she was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award and the Madame Bollinger medal in recognition of her outstanding tasting ability. Having lived in New Zealand for six years (2010-2016), Rebecca has since returned to her roots in the north of England where she lives with her Kiwi husband and six-year-old son.

Vinous has subscribers in over 100 countries and is one of the most respected wine publications in the world.