Nose
Initial restraint opens to a complex blend of grapefruit, peaches, vanilla, roasted cashews with underlying citrus notes.
Palate
Margaret River Chardonnay at it's best. This wine is overflowing with rich Chardonnay fruit, seamlessly balanced with the finest French oak. The palate is intense, yet shows restraint, and the crisp acidity gives this wine an exquisite structure leading to a long cleansing finish. It is early days for this wine, it will keep evolving in the bottle for the next 10 years - more if cellared in optimum conditions.
Growing Conditions
The 2015 vintage in Margaret River started with an unusually warm winter and plenty of rainfall, followed by mild and windy conditions in November, resulting in a prolonged flowering period. This changed in the second half of December to ideal ripening weather, dry and sunny without any extreme heat events and stayed consistent through to the end of February. The whites all harvested during this period are of exceptional quality, showing intense varietal characters.
Harvest
The old Gingin clone Chardonnay vines, were hand-picked.
Winemaking
Then immediately transferred to a refrigerated container sitting in the vineyard next to the pickers. This allowed for instant cooling of the fruit. With the container set at 0 degrees Celsius, the fruit was immediately chilled down. On arrival at the winery, the fruit was hand-tipped into the winery tank press. The fruit was whole-bunch pressed with only the free-run juice being used for this ultra-premium style. After settling this juice overnight the cloudy supernatant was transferred to oak for full barrel fermentation in a temperature controlled cellar. At the end of fermentation the barrels were topped and sealed. After 8 months maturation the wine was removed from oak, stabilised in the traditional manner prior to clarification and bottling.
Appearance
Yellow straw, with lime hues.
Food Pairing
This wine is vegan & vegetarian friendly.
