Nose
The wine’s aroma opens before you in the glass. Mineral and citrus notes lead to creamy cashews and subtley integrated oak.
Palate
Fermentation with indigenous yeast in French oak barriques and lees aging provides a creamy texture with flavours of almond meal. This texture complements the thrilling nectarine and rockmelon fruit and the crisp mineralcitrus structure.
Growing Conditions
Growing season was preceded by below average rainfall for the winter of ‘08, but it was still the best winter rain for several seasons. The spring was also punctuated with rain but the wind and cooler weather did affect set in many varieties including Gin-Gin clone chardonnay. The growing season was cooler and varieties ripened later than average. However, a benign end to the season saw all varieties ripen perfectly with higher natural acids and fine fruit structures
Harvest
The premium parcels of fruit for the 2009 Howard Park Chardonnay were hand-picked and refrigerated overnight. The fruit was then manually sorted to eliminate any damaged berries and loaded into our press for whole bunch pressing. Only the free run juice from the press is considered for Howard Park as this is the most tightly structured and aromatic juice.
Winemaking
fermentation with indigenous yeast from the vineyard allowed to complete the fermentation. A mixture of new (40%) and one and two year old (60%) French barriques was used for fermentation and maturation. The secondary malolactic fermentation was discouraged to maintain the natural backbone of acidity which is a hallmark of Howard Park Chardonnay. Some lees stirring was employed to most batches, with the time stirring depending on the structure of each parcel of wine. A creamy texture that complemented the wine’s natural zestiness was what we were looking for.
Appearance
pale straw in colour.
