Blend: 100% Chardonnay
Analysis:
Alcohol: 13.5% | PH: 3.65 | Titratable acidity: 5.3 g/L
Bottling Date: August 2020
Cellaring: 3+ years
Tasting Notes:
An aromatic Chardonnay with intense orchard aromas of white peach, nectarine, red apple and pear along with honeydew melon, honeysuckle and vanilla, popcorn and a hint of butter. The silky textured palate is full-bodied with crisp, refreshing acidity and some hazelnut, toasty oak and butter that meld nicely with the melon, stone fruit and tropical notes of banana and papaya. The long finish shows lemon zest and a touch of minerality. Pair this with roast halibut with a peach salsa or root vegetable mash with chanterelles sautéed in butter.
Rhys Pender, Master of Wine
Wine Making:
Spring arrived early in 2019, allowing for early and even bud break, flowering and fruit set. This was followed by a warm, yet more moderate summer. The summer heat was enough to produce nicely concentrated levels of ripeness in the grapes and the cool autumn provided conditions for acidity to be retained in the fruit as well, providing the wine with a lively freshness to balance the ripe fruit notes.
The estate grown Chardonnay grapes were handpicked from October 1st to 3rd of 2019. They were hand sorted with the majority (60 %) dropped whole cluster into our pneumatic press for a gentle extraction of the juice. The remaining forty percent of the grapes were destemmed and soaked on skins for one night before being pressed off. Eighty-three percent of the juice was fermented in oak barrels with the remaining done in stainless-steel tanks. The barrel portion was divided into five separate fermentation groups, each with a different yeast used, to add complexity, aromas and flavour to the wine. Partial malolactic fermentation (15 %) was followed by 9 months of ageing in barrel. The wine was filtered and cold stabilized prior to bottling and allowed to further age in bottle before its release.
To barrel age the 2019 Chardonnay we used: 87% French oak, 11% American oak, and 2% Acacia with 50% new, 36% one-year-old, and 14% two-year or older barrels.
