Nose

Lifted aromas of sweet citrus fruit and dried pear mingle with white floral nuances and hints of honeycomb.

Palate

The textural palate displays vibrant citrus fruits with flavours of lime, lemon meringue, sweet grapefruit and hints of dried pears. The wine displays exceptional purity with an attractive savoury element, which contributes complexity to the palate, finishing with a clean saline mineral edge.

Growing Conditions

The vines enjoyed a near-perfect growing season, with a warm dry spring and relatively light winds prevailing along the Margaret River Coast. The summer conditions were nice and warm without excessive heat until a curve ball arrived between 18 and 20 January, a rare weather event for this time of the year resulting in 80mm of rainfall across the region. This was a timely watering from Mother Nature for the reds - but not so timely for the whites which were only a couple of weeks from harvest. Some cooler conditions followed and this combination of events had the effect of delaying the white grape harvest - with our first pick of Chardonnay on 8 February, one week later than the past few years. The team picked small parcels of Chardonnay fruit each day during mid February to early March. Overall, a very strong year for the whites which all displayed bright, intense varietal fruit flavours with excellent natural acidity.Voyager Estate's Chardonnay vineyards are located in the Stevens Valley area, located within the Wallcliffe subregion of Margaret River. The area is characterised by gentle slopes of red/ brown gravelly soils, with stony/clay subsoil. Influenced by cooling breezes off the nearby Indian Ocean, nature provides the perfect microclimate for the cultivation of exceptional Chardonnay grapes. The vineyard has been planted to nine different clones of Chardonnay, which offer different nuances to the wine. The main clones planted are - the local Gin Gin clone, with its low yields of' hen-and-chicken bunches', which offers fruit power and concentration whilst, the Bernard Clones 95, 96 and 76 offer a more restrained flavour profile, but contribute wonderful texture, fineness and minerality to the wine. Intimate knowledge of our vineyards and, selective hand-harvesting allows careful selection of the very best fruit, allowing us to craft a complex wine displaying elegance, purity and balance.

Harvest

Six separate blocks were hand-harvested between 10 and 24 February 2016, at between 11.0 and 12.5 Baumé.

Winemaking

The fruit was cooled overnight, then whole-bunch pressed and transferred to barrel for natural fermentation. Fermented entirely in French oak barrels of which 36% were new; the primary cooperages were Francis, Dargaud & Jaegle, St Martin and Cadus. 27% of the wine underwent malolactic fermentation to build texture and lower the natural acidity. It was aged for eleven months in oak barriques, undergoing regular bâtonnage, before final blending in Janaury 2017 and bottling in May 2017.

Aging

Up to 10 years

Appearance

Pale straw

Food Pairing

Enjoy with full bodied fish or white meat dishes.