Man O' War Valhalla Chardonnay 2021 ~ Waiheke Island, New Zealand

93/100 Bob Campbell, The Real Review
17/20 Jancis Robinson

95/100 Cameron Douglas MS (2020 vintage)
94/100 Stephen Wong, The Real Review (2020 vintage)
94/100 Bob Campbell, The Real Review (2020 vintage)
93/100 Bob Campbell, The Real Review (2020 vintage)
94/100 Cameron Douglas MS (2019 vintage)
91/100 James Suckling (2019 vintage)
91/100 James Suckling (2018 vintage)

Bronze - Joe Czerwinski, The Wine Advocate (2019 vintage)
Bronze - Christina Pickard, Wine Enthusiast (2018 vintage)

Ranked #3 - 2019 Chardonnay from Auckland, The Real Review
Ranked #1 - 2018 Chardonnay from Auckland, The Real Review

Bob Campbell, The Real Review "Rich, almost luscious wine with tropical fruits, peach, oyster shell and spicy oak flavours. Mouth-filling chardonnay with warming alcohol. Generously proportioned, with appealing complexity."

Cameron Douglas MS "A full-bodied, nutty, rich and powerful wine with a core of roasted stone fruit and toasty cashew-nut oak flavours, fine textured tannins and a brazil-nut butter texture. Baked peaches and lemon, nectarine skin and grapefruit. There’s vanilla and nut, warming alcohol and medium+ acidity. A wine that ticks all the boxes of weight and intensity, richness and power, flavour and deliciousness. A lovely drinking wine (2020 vintage)

Stephen Wong, The Real Review "Tight, flinty sulfide/smoke nose, young, closed. Very high-toned citrus and herb notes - in the reductive, mineral style. Concentrated fruit, sulfites dominating at present, will this integrate over time? Very modern style, quite lean. Just lacking the fruit weight and depth to stand up the level of reduction here; still very good, but shy of great" (2020 vintage)

Bob Campbell, The Real Review "Light, slightly phenolic (in a good way) with grapefruit, sizzled butter, and oyster shell flavours. A bit simple at first but opened up as it sat in the glass." (2020 vintage)

Bob Campbell, The Real Review "Big, rich and creamy chardonnay with layers of tree fruit, citrus fruit, mineral and oak flavours. Complex, satisfying and generously proportioned, with a solid backbone of tangy acid and peppery tannins. An heroic chardonnay with development potential." (2020 vintage)

Bob Campbell, The Real Review "Rich, complex chardonnay with grapefruit, nectarine, green apple, mint and a saline-mineral character.A lively, high-energy wine that promises to age very well indeed." (2019 vintage)

Cameron Douglas MS "A rich and captivating bouquet with aromas of vanilla and roasted peach, baked apple and cashew nut, sour cream and burnt butter, nectarine and baking spice. There’s no mistaking the power, the oak and the variety. Full-bodied and creamy textured on the palate with stone fruit and grapefruit flavours, vanilla and raw sugar with baking spice and smoke flavours of oak, fine tannins and mediumacidity. This is a big wine, but very well made, quite serious , rich, bold, nutty and ready..." (2019 vintage)

James Suckling "This has rich red-plum and berry-pastry aromas that lead to a palate defined by fluffy, bright tannins that carry red-plum flavors. There’s rich fruit on offer here." (2019 vintage)

Joe Czerwinski, The Wine Advocate "Hints of smoke and vanilla join blueberries and blackberries on the nose of the 2019 Killerman's Run Shiraz. It's medium to full-bodied yet reasonably crisp on the finish, with only modest tannins and savory notes of black olives and dried herbs." (2019 vintage)

Bob Campbell, The Real Review "Rich, weighty, creamy-textured chardonnay with toast, sizzled butter, peach, melon, spice and citrus flavours (among others). A satisfyingly complex and textural wine that demonstrate impressive viticultural and winemaking skills" (2018 vintage)

Christina Pickard, Wine Enthusiast "A ripe, slightly candied and somewhat oaky nose of nectarines, oranges, butterscotch and toasted coconut leads to a similarly flavored palate. There's bright acidity amid the richness here, but the sweet oak and winemaking feel heavy-handed, wanting for restraint and terroir expression." (2018 vintage)

James Suckling "This is a very rich and attractively ripe shiraz that offers a wealth of summer berries and flowers on the nose and a very drinkable, fleshy and bright palate with plum and red-berry flavors. Drink now. Screw cap." (2018 vintage)

Robert Parker The Wine Advocate "Man O’ War is without a doubt one of New Zealand’s greatest wineries in the making and one to watch."

Jancis Robinson “Waiheke Island, home to one of the country’s best Syrah producers Man O’ War…New Zealand is second only to the Rhône in the consistency of quality it achieves.”

Raymond Chan "Man O’ War is arguably Waiheke Island’s most significant wine producer.."

Man O'War Vineyards is a leading New Zealand wine producer on Waiheke Island in the Hauraki Gulf. It is known for its consistently high-quality range of wines made from grape varieties like Chardonnay, Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Each small parcel of vines is carefully tended and harvested by hand, then vinified separately, fusing classic Old World techniques with innovative New World ideas.

Waiheke Island is a wine-producing region just 18km east of Auckland city. This hilly island is home to a healthy population of hippies and artists, as well as some of Auckland's most famous vineyards. Waiheke Island's specialty is elegant Bordeaux Blend wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, but Syrah and Chardonnay are also important grape varieties planted here.

Chardonnay is one of the world’s most popular grapes, Chardonnay is made in a wide range of styles from lean, to rich, creamy white wines aged in oak. Bolder, richer, full-bodied and buttery Chardonnays are made using oak and are produced in California, Burgundy, and Australia. Unoaked chardonnays such as Chablis and those produced in Chile, New Zealand, and other parts of France are leaner and often crisp and mineraly, with delicate flavors. By law, if a label says “Chablis,” it must be Chardonnay.