01/09/2026
Maria Salomé Ebner von Eschenbach could hardly have imagined that, three centuries after her lifetime, her portrait would sit quietly in museum collections, leaving people to wonder about her life across the corridor of time.
Still less could she have imagined that her descendants would one day give her name to their finest Chardonnay from Elephant Hill — a w**ery in the other hemisphere, where there is neither elephant nor hill, just breathtaking Pacific Ocean views and very good w**es.
Here in the sunshine of Hawke’s Bay, we sometimes wonder what she would make of the w**es that carry her name. Made in limited quantities, Salomé is selected from our finest vineyard blocks, best batches and best barrels.
When that golden w**e is poured, Chardonnay aficionados might appreciate something remarkable from Aotearoa — or perhaps remember the good old days before a bottle of premium white Burgundy began to feel like a financial decision.
Then how about you, my friend?
What do you enjoy most in your glass: perhaps grapefruit peel, nectarine, subtle white flower, hints of wood spice and smoke, flint, sea salt, minerality, or that lingering finish? And what stays with you: its purity and vigour, freshness and finesse, tension and poise, sophistication and complexity?
Who would you drink it with? Or perhaps with no one at all — just a precious moment entirely to yourself.
What’s in the glass is only ever half the story. The other half? You and time.
**ery **e **ery **e
