2022 Dog Point Chardonnay

96 POINTS

Shanteh Wale - Halliday's Wine Companion

Some enticing theatre popcorn, sparkler flint and lemon candies. Peach pit meets yellow plums and buttered crumpets. Subtle walnut skin and powdered nutmeg. Where some chardonnays may be released too early or late, the release timing of Dog Point is always premeditated and this is in a very sweet spot. It's a wealth of lemon skin zest, squeezed pineapple slices and the fine sandpaper texture that has you reaching for a lobster trap. This also has the ability to be a bit of a chameleon, adapting well to fatty fried foods and sharp cheese equally well. A stellar vintage of their iconic chardonnay.

95 POINTS

Decanter

Richly aromatic with notes of lemon meringue, grapefruit, white peach, oatmeal, sizzled butter, hazelnuts and a pretty lift of white flowers. While flinty reduction is a key aspect of Dog Point’s house style (albeit more dialled back than in earlier years), it’s the silken, assured palate with its rich fruit, fine acidity, concentration and balance that seduces. Appellation Marlborough Wine certified.

94 POINTS

James Suckling

Very beautiful with sliced cooked apples, pie crust, dried Meyer lemons and lemon curd. Hints of flint. Full-bodied and layered, this has pretty phenolic tension and a flavorful, tangy finish. A complete and balanced Chardonnay. Two-thirds Mendoza clone (Wente). Average vine age is 30 years old. From organically grown grapes.

94 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Wine Advocate

The 2022 Chardonnay leads with chamomile and yellow fruits, candlewax and forest floor. This is quite a beguiling wine to smell; it leads me down a path of white miso, white pepper and caper brine. This is an excellent wine, and having enjoyed (a few) glasses of the 2015 Chardonnay last night, it is clear the wine ages gracefully and with ease. This will be excellent now or over the next decade or two. Your call. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. The 2022 vintage was down 50% in yields due to a combination of factors—weather, workforce constraints due to COVID-19—and in response to these factors, they thinned crops heavily to remain uncompromised in quality (in comparison to the following 2023). And it came off the back of a low-yielding 2021 vintage (here, bunch weights were down, and there were loose bunches, despite numbers of bunches being about right).

92 POINTS

Mike Bennie - The Wine Front

Well, this is a delight. It doesn’t set the fireworks off or the loud alarms, but in its quiet and gentle softness, and primary fruit, and flinty minerality, and touch of nougat, and all of that so well balanced, a calm pond, a cool sea, it’s a charming white wine that does chardonnay at a good pace and place of access. Charm.

91 POINTS

Rebecca Gibb MW - Vinous

Richly flavored and concentrated, the 2022 Chardonnay is quite the mouthful. This packs a lot of aromatic and flavors into its mid-weight core. Think notes of grilled nuts, smoky bacon and flinty reduction, which give way to sweet nectarine-like fruit on the long finish. The 2022 is a punchy number and certainly not subtle, but it has substance and determination. This is the Chardonnay equivalent of US gymnast Simone Biles. Give it time.