It is a pleasure to announce that the Saint Clair Omaka Reserve Chardonnay 2022 was awarded gold at the 2024 Chardonnay du Monde wine competition. Selected from 579 wines across 33 countries, Saint Clair Family Estate was the only New Zealand producer to place with a gold medal in this year’s competition.
The Chardonnay du Monde hosted its 31st annual competition on March 10-15 at Château des Ravatys, at Saint-Lager in Burgundy, France. This renowned competition claims to recognise and award the world’s best Chardonnay wines.
Fruit for the gold medal winning 2022 Omaka Reserve Chardonnay was sourced primarily from Saint Clair’s vineyard in Marlborough’s Omaka Valley, where a combination of warm days, cool nights and clay-based soils contribute to greater retention of fruit flavours. The wine was fermented in 14 per cent new American oak barrels before experiencing a second malolactic fermentation and aged on lees for nine months.
Another Saint Clair wine awarded at this prestigious competition was the Saint Clair Pioneer Block 10 Twin Hills Chardonnay 2021 which placed with a silver medal alongside other renowned New Zealand producers Spy Valley and Trinity Hills.
View the full 2024 results here
Senior Winemaker Stewart Maclennan was delighted with the new accolades. “We’re thrilled to see Marlborough Chardonnay showing off on the world stage. The Omaka Reserve represents our best of the region, uniquely and boldly framed in American oak. While Block 10 Chardonnay is an offering of handpicked Omaka Valley Chardonnay, matured in French barriques. We sincerely hope these wines help introduce more of Marlborough’s best kept secrets to the true Chardonnay afficionados out there”.
The Saint Calir Pioneer Block 10 Twin Hills Chardonnay 2021 was produced from an excellent vintage with outstanding quality fruit. This wine is fermented in 100 per cent French oak (33 per cent new oak barrels) and aged on lees for nine months before being selected for the final bottling.
Jarrah Prior, Saint Clair Family Estate’s GM Winegrowing does an outstanding job out in the field, ensuring the Marlborough fruit ripens steadily throughout the growing season, showing great retention of fruit flavours year on year.
Jarrah reflects on the viticultural aspect of these two award winning Chardonnays, “Marlborough Chardonnay is really beginning to hit its strides. We now have mature vines with an amazing selection of clones that go into making these powerful, yet refined wines. We believe Marlborough Chardonnay can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best of them, and it's great to see this come to fruition with these awards.
These wines are a culmination of a huge collective effort from the Saint Clair team - from those tending the vines, through oak maturation, until the final tweaks before going into bottle. Great people make great wine!”
Saint Clair Family Estate is widely known for producing high quality Sauvignon Blanc, so being able to share that two Saint Clair Marlborough Chardonnays have been awarded in the 2024 Chardonnay du Monde is a testament to the versatility and skill of the Saint Clair winemaking team.
Saint Clair would like to thank the Chardonnay du Monde Judging panel and all participants that entered this year’s fierce competition.
