Margaret River The Reserve Chardonnay 2004

Winemaker’s Notes:
Made with select parcels of fruit from our most outstanding vineyards, our Reserve wines represent the exquisite synergy between viticulture and winemaking.  Blended for style, elegance and complexity, these wines are the ultimate expression of the vintage and the varietal.

The fruit for our 2004 Reserve Chardonnay was sourced from our vineyards in both the Wilyabrup and southern Margaret River areas. These vineyards have consistently produced our best Chardonnay, with fruit from the Wilyabrup vineyard showing classical Margaret River Chardonnay characters of intense stone-fruit and melon, while the fruit coming from our more southern vineyards shows flavours in the lemon citrus spectrum with a touch of minerality and excellent natural acidity.

Each parcel of fruit was harvested in the coolest time of the night / early morning which preserved freshness and quality. The fruit was gently de-stemmed only (no crushing) before chilling the must to 10C and being softly pressed in an air bag press, which ensured only juice of the finest quality was used in this blend. The juice was 'rough' racked after 24hrs of cold settling to include some solids in the ferment and a portion was fermented naturally with the balance being inoculated with a select yeast strain. This served to increase complexity and blending options for the final blend. The ferment was conducted in 80% new French oak barriques (Seguin Moreau and Dargaud & Jaegle) and 20% 1year old French oak barriques. Overall, the wine spent ~10 months in oak with periodical lees stirring which provided richness and texture to the final wine.

Appearance:  Brilliant pale straw.

Nose:  Fresh white peach and melon characters typical of Chardonnay from Margaret River. Careful oak handling and time on yeast lees has added subtle notes of spice, oatmeal and raw cashew nut that provide an additional layer of complexity.

Palate: Fresh stone fruit and lemon citrus flavours dominate on the palate, which shows tremendous flavour intensity, freshness and complexity with seamless balance.

Alcohol content:  14.5% ALC/VOL.

Cellaring: Now - 2011.

Food match - everyday: Chicken breast wrapped in prosciutto.
Food match – special occasion: Char grilled lobster.