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
he 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 decade.
Growing Conditions
At the Hay Shed Hill vineyard, which is very close to the Indian Ocean, we experienced a warm and dry winter, which meant that the vines never deeply entered dormancy as soil temperature stayed reasonably high leading to a very early budburst in last August for Chardonnay. Spring in Wilyabrup can be quite wild with wet and windy conditions which can be devastating during the grapevine flowering period. And so it proved this season with hail, wind and heavy rain during the critical flowering period leading to the lowest fruit set for Chardonnay that I have seen in twenty five years in Margaret River and subsequent very low crop levels. The season itself was as perfect as could be hoped with Chardonnay at Hay Shed Hill harvest very early in January.
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.
Appearance
The wine displays fresh green tinges on a pale straw colour.