Our aim in crafting a distinguished Chardonnay is to produce a wine that is fruit-expressive, structurally complex, textural and flavoursome. We achieve this style by picking fruit with classic flavour profiles and high natural acidity. Our premium fruit is gently basket pressed, then fermented in new and seasoned French oak barrels, for spontaneous malolactic conversion and maturation in barrel on lees. These characteristics are a natural extension of our dry-land farming practices and other benchmark practices adopted from the Côte de Beaune. Like our 2020 release, production was supplemented with fruit from an over 20-year-old vineyard in Gruyere of comparable quality to our own. We are extremely excited to share the result.
Chardonnay 2021
$60.00
Tasting Notes
A bright, zesty chardonnay from a cooler, lower-yielding year. The nose gives ripe orchard fruits, white peach delicate blossom and a touch of steely minerality. Juicy red apple and stone fruit dominate the palate, with hints of almond meal and subtle toasty spice. Great freshness and energy in the mouth, with lively acidity and a long savoury finish.
Closure: Diam
Technical Notes
Our Chardonnay vines are planted at the cooler eastern end of the vineyard, and comprises of mostly P58 clone with 6 rows of an unclassified clone sourced from Yarra Yering. The north-west facing Gruyere vineyard fruit was all I10V5 clone. All fruit was handpicked, yielding less than 1.7 tonnes per acre. The fruit was lightly crushed and bunches were gently basket pressed, with the resulting free run and pressed juice sent to tank for cooling. Chilled juice was transferred by gravity to barrel (barriques, 36% new; French oak), for fermentation with a selected yeast culture. During élevage, the wine received early and light lees stirring to ensure fermentation completed and the palate structure was enhanced. After 12 months stabilising and maturing in barrel, the wine was racked off lees, and bottled without filtration nor fining (DIAM closure).
Alcohol: 13.4% alc/vol.
