2022 Chardonnay

We’ve long been dedicated to our love of Chardonnay, and like anything worth its weight, this small but mighty piece of our portfolio has gradually and rightfully emerged as a touchstone for us; alongside its noble cousins, Riesling and Pinot Noir.

A shimmery gold in the glass, this wine has aromas of lemon curd, fresh orange zest, buttered popcorn, and hazelnut praline, all topped off with a wonderful lift of flinty minerality. The palate is concentrated and textured with white peach, green papaya, ambrosia apple, and lemon oil. There is just enough acidity to balance the weight perfectly and, as always, a support of French oak envelopes the profile, but does not over power the fruit.

WINEMAKER'S NOTES

The principal composition of the wine is built from our estate’s 2006 and 2013 Chardonnay plantings, with the remaining wine hailing from a beautiful sloped site just up the road in our sub-appellation also planted in 2013. The fruit was gently whole bunch pressed and run to a combination of new and seasoned barriques and puncheons before undergoing wild fermentation in barrel as well as partial wild malolactic fermentation. It was then aged for 10 months on fermentation lees in those same barrels (with 20 to 30% new oak incorporated) before bottling and an additional 6 months in the cellar before its release.
Clonal make-up: Clones 95,96,76 and 589.

TECHNICAL INFO

Varietal: 100% Chardonnay
Alcohol: 13.7%
Residual Sweetness: 4 g/L
pH: 3.47
Total Acidity: 5.9 g/L

• VINTAGE NOTES

  2022 was a challenging season, but it produced some exceptional quality grapes and resulting wines. The winter of 21/22 was harsh, with many vines exhibiting primary bud damage following a cold snap of -26.5 around Christmas. Above average rainfall in May charged the soil with water and gave the vines everything they needed to hit the ground running after a long winter and late bud break. The rain continued into June meaning no irrigation was needed for the vines till much later than average and allowed the cover crop to flourish.

  
  Summer was mild though some hot spells in late July and early August helped push the season along. September and October were perfect for developing flavours in the grapes while not having too much sugar produced. This resulted in balanced wines with moderate alcohol. A cold snap in early November just after all the sparkling and still wines had been harvested meant that we were able to produce our first icewine since 2017.