Tasting Notes 2010
Vineyard : 100% Chardonnay from the Casablanca Valley cropped at an average of 6 tons per hectare (2.4 tons per acre). Sourced 100% from 17 year old Chardonnay vines (all Clone Mendoza).
Harvest : Harvest was carried out by hand on April 27th and May 4th, 2010.
Vinification : After careful hand harvesting the grapes were first destemmed and crushed to stainless steel tanks (via a chiller in order to drop the temperature to 8ºC or 46ºF) where they were then left to cold soak for 24 hours. Following this time the free-run juice was drained by gravity from the tanks. The remaining skins and juice were then dug-out and gently squeezed using pneumatic presses in order to separate light from hard pressings. The resulting juices were then left to cold settle (at 12ºC/54ºF) for 4 days following which time they were racked to stainless steel tanks and inoculated with selected yeasts. Once fermentation had commenced the must was gravity fed to a mixture of used (64%) and new (36%) French oak barrels until fermentation had finished (usually from 20 to 40 days) with fermentation temperatures peaking at around 22ºC/72ºF. After fermentation had finished the barrels were sulphured at which point battonage (or manual lees stirring) was carried out weekly for the following ten months. After a total of 11 months in barrel the wine was gently nitrogen racked to tank at which point it was cold stabilised, filtered and bottled.
Tasting Notes : Pale straw in colour. On the nose fresh citrus aromas combine effortlessly with rich notes of toasted almond and hazelnut. In the mouth fresh pear, quince and crème brulee notes lead to rich, creamy finish.
Wine Analysis :
