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Vineyard
Established in 1997 at Scotsburn, on a windswept ridge 1.5 km from the base of Mt Buninyong, this site is planted in old goldfield soils. These soils, remnants of the Ordovician period, are made up of clay and sandy quartz breccia along with angular quartz pieces, sandstone, mudstone and siltstone. At 500m elevation, warm days are followed by (acid-retaining) cold nights. Vine rows run north-south and are trained to a VSP canopy.
Growing Season
The 2021/2022 growing season at Scotsburn began with cool and wet conditions due to the third consecutive La Nina weather pattern. Our already low-cropping Ballarat site was reduced further at flowering by the wet weather, producing tiny bunches of intense fruit. With careful vineyard management keeping the vines healthy, we hand-picked exceptionally late on the 22nd and 26th of April.
Winemaking
At the winery, the grapes were chilled overnight before being whole-bunch-pressed into tank, with the juice then settled for 24 hours. It was then roughly racked to French barriques of 33% new Troncais, 16% with toasted heads. Indigenous ferment started after two days with a long, slow fermentation, maintaining cool temperatures below 16˚C. When dry, barrels were regularly tasted whilst going through malolactic fermentation, allowing each barrel to find its natural balance between depth and acidity. Due to the cool growing season, more malolactic activity was allowed to occur than usual. The wine matured on yeast lees for ten months before the best barrels were selected, blended and bottled.
Independent Review
"Provenance probably doesn’t get the attention that it deserves. It’s a star producer. This is one of a suite of regional chardonnays."
"This wine has both excellent intensity and length, and a bit of x-factor. All things considered, the price is ultra reasonable. It tastes of white peach and brine, nougat and hay, though there are also whispers of struck match, and a subtle fragrant herb note, thyme maybe. It’s one of those wines where the acidity itself is brimful of flavour; it’s a fibre optic cable, full of information. This wine, naturally feels super young, but the level of enjoyment that it promises in the future is right up there."
96 Points Campbell Mattinson – The Wine Front
(Published on 29 January 2024)
"520m elevation. Whole-bunch pressed, settled overnight and racked to oak (20% new) the next day. Some mlf depending on the acidity of each batch. This is the most fine boned of the three subregional chardonnays. A superb wine inflected with just ripened nectarines, marine scents, white flowers and a soupçon of struck match. It's taut, to be sure, on the palate, but the wine's intensity, structure and length all point to a great wine in the making."
97 Points. Philip Rich - Halliday Wine Companion
(Published 07 August 2024)
