Kim Crawford is known mainly for the Marlborough sauvignon blanc they make so well, and to a lesser extent a lovely chardonnay. But the portfolio is extensive, with plenty of pinot gris and good pinot noir, along with some regional offerings. We are now, for example, able to try the Small Parcels “Wild Grace” chardonnay ($37), a vivid example of what this winery, now nearly twenty years old, is capable of.
Made with fruit from the Corner 50 vineyard in the Bridge Pa Triangle subregion (70 per cent) and the Strathallan in Crownthorpe Terraces (30 per cent), the wine is complex, elegant, a fully wild-fermented in French oak barriques wine that over delivers in every way. It boasts some nice minerality to complement its peach and citrus notes, with fine acidity and a finish that reveals some buttered toast flavours and a hint of nuts. The wine can certainly lay down for awhile, say for the length of time it would take you to re-watch the entirety of Breaking Bad, interspersed with the entirety of Curb Your Enthusiasm, but it is delightful right now, an ideal companion to salmon, or even flash-grilled gooseneck barnacles.
