Chardonnay 2020

DOG POINT VINEYARD

Chardonnay
2020

  • Organic
  • Vegan
Country
New Zealand
Regulated designation
Table wine
Region
South Island
Subregion
Marlborough
Varietal(s)
Chardonnay 100 %
Colour
White
Producer's website

About this winery

Dog Point Vineyard is one of the oldest privately established vineyards in Marlborough. Established in 2002 by partners, Ivan & Margaret Sutherland, and James & Wendy Healy. After working together at Cloudy Bay, Ivan and James decided to return to a more hands-on approach and establish their own wine label. Dog Point Vineyard is located at the confluence of the Brancott and Omaka Valleys in Marlborough, New Zealand’s premium wine growing region. The name “Dog Point” dates from earliest...

See the DOG POINT VINEYARD detail page for more information on this brand

Press reviews

James Suckling

- 95 points -

October 2021

Smoke, hay, dried mango, preserved lemon and buttered toast on the nose. Full-bodied with sharp acidity and a phenolic texture. Tight, concentrated and long.

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James Suckling

- 94 points -

October 2020

A complex chardonnay with guava, lime and lightly grilled-peach aromas, as well as flint and toasted hazelnut. The palate has an impressively taut and concentrated feel with praline, hazelnut, peach and lemon flavors all intertwined. Good depth here.

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Wine Spectator

- 94 points -

July 2023 (Vintage 2020)

Succulent and mouthwatering, with a snappy mix of lemon curd, lemon blossom and flint elements. Shows more nuanced notes of salted butterscotch, brioche and litsea oil that linger in the background, while the fresh, vibrant acidity is sleek on the finish, providing focus and length.

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Wine Advocate

- 94 points -

November 2023 (Vintage 2020)

The 2020 Chardonnay is reductive and flinty on the nose and leads with lashings of crushed nuts, curry leaf, cap gun, yellow flesh peach, salted apples and brine. In the mouth, the wine is mouthfilling and bony in the very best of ways, with rich fruit that provides a chorus through the finish. Is it so reductive and worked that it will polarize? Possibly. Probably. Do I love it? Yes. Horses for courses. This is classy wine with lots to touch and feel. I bet it ages well, too. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

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James Suckling

- 94 points -

September 2022 (Vintage 2020)

Inviting aromas of flint, matchstick, grated nutmeg, dried lemon rind and sliced grapefruit. Medium-bodied with silky texture. Fresh and bright fruit turns more savory with herbs and spice coming to the forefront. Layered. Tannic, tight finish. From organically grown grapes. 

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Wine Spectator

- 93 points -

March 2021 (Vintage 2018)

Rich and toasty upfront, with hazelnut, nutmeg and cardamom details that mingle with peach, poached pear and green apple flavors and a hint of gunpowder tea on a supple and juicy frame.

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Vinous

- 93 points -

March 2022 (Vintage 2019)

The 2019 Dog Point is one hell of a mouthful of a Chardonnay with its full-bodied, concentrated, vanilla-infused core, offering density and richness of white stone fruit and oak-derived grilled nut and bacon flavors. It would be difficult to call this wine subtle, but what it lacks in demureness, it makes up for in impressiveness. Hailing from Marlborough, its volume is kept in check by natural acidity, creating a fine, precise and lengthy finish. 

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