Greywacke Archive Chardonnay 2016 is an aged release of Marlborough chardonnay, held back to show what the region's chardonnay can become with real time in bottle. Nine years on, it has moved well past its primary fruit phase and into something altogether more complex.

Toasted nuts, honey and baked apple lead the nose, with the citrus and stone fruit of its youth now folded into something richer and more savoury. The palate is generous and rounded, with a nutty, almost sherry-like complexity threading through and a faint hint of dried fig on the finish.

Acidity remains bright enough to carry that richness, and the finish is long and savoury, the texture soft and well-resolved after this much time in bottle, with a faint toasty note lingering at the very end.

Serve it with roast turkey, mushroom risotto, or a firm aged cheese — food with enough weight and savoury character to match a wine this developed, rather than anything delicate or overly simple.

This is a wine at its peak; drink it now rather than holding it further.