A shimmering golden lime colour, this vibrant wine shows a distinct minerality on the nose, with delicate florals and toasty notes, alongside grapefruit, fennel and lime zest. Flinty, saline Chardonnay characteristics on the palate are here finely counterbalanced by a creamy textural display of citrus, marzipan and butterscotch with an intensely rich mid-palate shot through with a robust lime acidity. This is a limited release of a supremely harmonious wine of elegant length and poise.

The 2020 vintage was operationally challenging working within the lockdown, although with our onsite team ‘bubble’, the harvest in fact proceeded smoothly. Following an excellent 2019 vintage, 2020 saw an early start to the ripening season with uniform budburst, followed by an early veraison. We had to net in mid-January to protect the fruit from bird attack and our vineyard team did their usual meticulous job of creating an open vine canopy by removing excess foliage by hand to allow air movement to dry the fruit and allow sunlight penetration. A marked increase of organic matter in the soil from our cover crops has promoted healthier vines which can better withstand disease. Unprecedented drought conditions in the north, produced smallish berries in most varieties, giving us great concentration of flavour, and we had the luxury of waiting for the fruit to reach the desired level of ripeness without any disease pressure causing us to pick early. We hand-picked the fruit in pristine condition, in what many believe may be the vintage of the decade!

The hand-harvested Chardonnay fruit was whole-bunch pressed, cold settled and then racked into one and two year old French barrels for fermentation. The wine remained on lees during the malo-lactic fermentation then remained in barrel for around 10 months before bottling.

Wine writer review:

CAMERON DOUGLAS, MS: 95 points

Youthful, bright and pure fruited bouquet with primary scents of grapefruit and white fleshed peach then layers of minerality including clay soils then spices of barrel. A fine lees and slightly reductive flinty quality adds complexity and promise. Delicious, taut, youthful and dry on the palate, flavours reflect the citrus and cool climate nature of the region, there’s apple and stone fruit flavours as well as complexity from oak and fine tannins. This wine is not about new oak - there’s just the right amount judiciously used, it’s a wine of some finesse and charm, complexity and allure. A wine that is still developing as well as showing off its drink now qualities. Best from late 2023 or early 2024 through 2029+.

Bob Campbell,  MW: 94 points

Flavoursome chardonnay with ripe peach/tree fruit, oyster shell, grapefruit and spicy oak flavours supported by fruity acidity. Generously proportioned wine with a silken texture and impressively lengthy finish.

PLEASE NOTE:

Any orders above two bottles will not be fulfilled, so please do not put through more than two.