Nose
The fruit’s integrity has remained intact with subtle secondary notes of lightly roasted nuts, brioche and
crème brûlée merely complementing the vibrant aromas of white peach, nectarine, grapefruit and curry
leaf.
Palate
On the palate this wine leaves no doubt of its intentions – it is intense and textural, yet fresh and
lively, finding the perfect balance between richness and finesse. Its fine acid backbone carries the exotic
stone fruit, grapefruit and citrus pith characters to an exceptionally long and savoury finish, the
unquestionably evident minerality taking on an almost salty character towards the back palate.
Growing Conditions
The winter was a long one in 2016, so bud burst and flowering occurred much later than we’ve seen in
recent years. The weather pattern over this period was very favourable, however, and so we saw very
even and consistent flowering across the board. Fruit set was excellent as well, which meant we were
looking at a healthy crop across all varieties by the end of spring. In anticipation of a cool vintage Chris
decided early on to do lots of additional work in the vineyard, which really paid off when the summer
months that followed proved to be unusually cool and saw above average levels of rainfall. Throughout
spring he had thinned out the crowns in order to open up the canopies and promote airflow, fruit was
dropped to manage yields, and the red varieties were all heavily leaf plucked around the bunches to
give the fruit ample sun light exposure in order to ensure full phenolic ripeness was achieved even in
this cool vintage. We therefore did not experience many of the difficulties with disease that were
reported by other growers across the region, and with very little bird pressure this year we were on
track to pick some gorgeous healthy grapes from early March onwards.
There’s no denying it was a long and arduous vintage this year, it was actually the longest on record for
us. But the results more than justify the effort, and the fact that several of our hand pickers commented
on our fruit being the cleanest they had picked this season is testament to the effectiveness of Chris’
hands-on approach to managing our little vineyard. Secretively, we are in fact quiet fans of these cooler
years since the longer hanging times associated with the slower ripening process allows the fruit to
develop both a very layered and complex aroma and flavour profile and beautifully ripe tannins before
the sugar levels soar and the acidity begins dropping away, which results in more structured and very
elegant wines with lower levels of alcohol.
Winemaking
This traditional style Chardonnay combines power with restraint and elegance in typical Margaret
River fashion. Produced from three different blocks with each adding complexity and texture.
