Nose
The nose exhibits aromas of fresh cut pear and honey dew melon with some zesty citric notes. There are no overt woody or buttery aromas with the primary fruit characters expressed with clarity and definition.
Palate
The palate is fresh and lively with clean crisp acidity complementing the vibrant fruity flavours. The palate has very good extension and ends clean and bright. This is a restrained style of Australian Chardonnay and highlights how far we have come with this style of wine over the last two decades.
Growing Conditions
The year 2020 will naturally go down as a very strange year for obvious reasons. But even before our lives were tipped upside down the 2020 vintage in Margaret River had presented its own mysteries and unusual occurrences.
Another relatively dry winter was followed by the hottest and driest spring ever recorded in the South West. The region experienced the hottest October and November on record with all vine maturity stages being well advanced of normal. So much so that we harvested Chardonnay at Hay Shed Hill in January something we have never done before.
The heat of spring did not extend into summer with the summer of 2020 being relatively mild; in fact conditions were highly favourable during the early part of summer.
The fact that a hot spring followed a less than satisfactory winter compromised grape yields across all varieties with crop levels being for the second year in a row uniformly poor. While quantity was low quality cannot be doubted. The whites are fresh and crisply varietal and the reds are vibrant and ripe with that lovely medium body that is the signature of Margaret River.
Winemaking
Only free run juice from the old vine Gin Gin clone Chardonnay was used in the making of this wine, this component of the juice is the highest in quality with the most intense fruit expression and the lowest in undesirable phenolic skin characters. The clear juice was fermented in French oak barriques; 30% new with the balance being one, two and three years old. The wine was matured in the same barriques for a further 10 months. No lees stirring or malo lactic fermentation was allowed in order to preserve and highlight the purity of fruit expression. The objective was to make a wine that expressed the character of this superb vineyard in an elegant and restrained style of wine that would be bright, vibrant and fresh in its youth but benefit from medium term cellaring.
Aging
Fermented in French oak barriques; 30% new with the balance being one, two and three years old. The wine was matured in the same barriques for a further 10 months.
Appearance
The wine displays fresh green tinges on a pale straw colour.
Food Pairing
Australian crayfish (Lobster) or any shellfish is a great match with our modern style Chardonnay.
