Nose
Our best parcel of Chardonnay is reserved for this wine, it is delicate and pure with aromas of stone fruits and citrus blossom.
Palate
The palate is elegant with exceptional balance and persistence. Matured in French oak for nine months this wine will drink beautifully now or can be cellared for the long term.
Growing Conditions
Rains during the month of January helped to freshen up the vineyard and top our dams and water tanks. Fortunately these rains were followed by sunny dry conditions and we found minimal disease pressure in the vineyard, any threat was mitigated with a little crop thinning. Yields have returned to normal cropping levels.
Harvest
February 2017.
Bottling
December 2017.
Winemaking
The fruit is hand picked early in the morning to retain freshness, then placed into the cool-room to chill further overnight. The next morning, the whole bunches are tipped into the press. The free run juice is gently pressed off to a stainless steel holding tank and allowed to settle naturally overnight. The slightly cloudy juice is then racked to a mixture of new, second and third use French oak barrels.
Fermentation occurs spontaneously and completed via wild fermentation. Once primary fermentation is concluded the wine is sulfured to ensure freshness and that secondary fermentation does not take place.
The wine is aged for nine months in barrel, with occasional stirring of lees to gain complexity and texture prior to bottling.
Aging
Up to 10 years.
