Nose
Delicate citrus and lifted fresh apple aromas
Palate
A vibrant and fine palate displaying citrus, red apple and lemonade flavours with hints of fresh bread, finishing with a clean crisp natural acidity.
Growing Conditions
Following several years of early vintages and the exceptionally late 2017, it was very nice to have a 'normal' season again. Excellent budburst across all varieties was followed by a beautifully warm November, which provided ideal conditions for flowering and very good fruit set. Summer proved to be quite mild with just a few hot days, particularly in December. A cool, overcast February resulted in the average maximum temperature for the month being close to two degrees lower than the long term average. Fortunately this cool, dry weather continued through the lead-up to harvest, enabling fruit to ripen slowly, accumulating intense varietal flavours whilst retaining natural acidity and all our whites were harvested in excellent condition. A section of our Weightmans Block 1 vineyard was set aside for the crafting of this wine. Planted on red brown loamy soil, the underlying subsoil is composed of stone and gravel providing the vines with a deep, well-drained profile to grow in. This patch of Chenin Blanc was selected due to its early ripening characteristics, which results in early flavour development at low sugar levels and with excellent natural acidity. We have always believed that Chenin Blanc grown in Margaret River was perfectly suited to making sparkling wine, and this particular site delivers wonderful fruit with perfect flavour, sugar and acid balance.
Winemaking
Hand-harvested on 24 and 26 February, the fruit was gently whole-bunch pressed to avoid phenolics from the skins. The juice was settled overnight before fermentation in stainless steel tanks. The cool ferment enabled the fresh fruit aromatics to be maintained. The wine was fined, filtered and tirage bottled on 18 May 2018. The secondary fermentation occurred in bottle and the wine remained on lees until November 2018 to gain additional complexity and a fine bead.
Appearance
Pale straw