Chardonnay grapes come from Kidnappers Vineyard on the Hawke’s Bay coast at Te Awanga. Warm, sunny spring and autumn, combined with cooling summer sea breezes, create ideal conditions for intense flavors, bright aromatics, and refreshing acidity. Vineyard practices now focus on organic methods, reducing herbicides, using cover crops, and evolving pruning to improve sap flow and reduce trunk disease. The grapes are hand-harvested.

The whole-bunch pressed grapes fermented with selected yeasts in French and Austrian puncheons, foudres, and stainless steel. The wine underwent partial malolactic conversion, then aged for 16 months in oak barriques, 18% of which were new.