Nose
Fermentation in stainless steel tank allows the full expression of Chardonnay fruit aroma without the influence of oak or lees resulting in a bright, clean tropical fruit bouquet.
Palate
The palate is rich with tropical fruits, clean zippy acidity balances the sweet fruit character resulting in a bright fresh flavoursome palate. When good quality Chardonnay is used unwooded Chardonnay takes on a whole new level of depth and intensity.
Growing Conditions
The vintage of 2021 is a bit of a blur in the memory with constant decisions made on the fly at all hours of the day given the unusual weather conditions across Margaret River, and to a lesser extent the Great Southern of Western Australia.
It was a great start to the season with the first really wet winter for several years and therefore good soil moisture entering spring and summer. This is even more important for ‘dry grown’ (unirrigated) vineyards such as Hay Shed Hill. There were positive signs at budburst with potentially better crop levels than the last two years.
Spring was mild with Chardonnay from Block 6 and Block 8 at Hay Shed Hill being harvested in the first week of February. In the middle to late part of February and throughout March we experienced multiple episodes of rain, some of these falls being heavy. This sort of weather is rare in a Margaret River summer requiring harvest plans to be constantly reviewed and updated.
Given the conditions I am thrilled with the result, all whites and rosés were pristine and clean, perhaps a little lighter in body than many years but wonderfully fresh and pure in character.
I think it will be a classic year more closely aligned with Margaret River wines of the early and mid-90s as opposed to the bigger wines of the early part of the century. And I think that is a good thing.
Winemaking
The wine is unwooded, with fermentation occurring in stainless steel tanks and then bottled at an early age. A low temperature, protective regime was adopted during its production, thereby preserving the finer fruit characters.
Appearance
COLOUR: Brilliant appearance, pale straw with green hues.
