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Vineyards
Our 2023 Golden Plains Chardonnay is a blend from across the three south-west Victorian regions of Henty, Ballarat, and Geelong. 50% is from the Doeven vineyard at Drumborg in the ultra-cool Henty region, a site strongly influenced by the proximity of the Great Southern Ocean. 30% comes from the Sinclair vineyard at Scotsburn, just south of Ballarat, grown in Ordovician period soils (old seabed), on a 500m elevation ridge 1km south-east of Mt Buninyong. The final 20% is from Ceres Bridge vineyard, with its rocky volcanic topsoil over a limestone base, close to the Barwon River in Geelong.
Growing Season
The 2022/2023 growing season was the fourth cool season in a row. Cold conditions at budburst and flowering led to small crops, these conditions continued across and post veraison ensuring a later-than-normal harvest.
Winemaking
Handpicked across all blocks, the fruit was whole-bunch pressed to tank, allowing the juice to settle for 24 hours; it was roughly racked to French oak barriques, 20% new. The fermentation occurred with indigenous yeasts in barrel at cool temperatures of 14c. Once dry, partial malolactic occurred, endeavouring to balance natural acid levels, encourage mid-palate power and complement the natural fruit characteristics. The wine spent a total of 8 months in oak maturing on yeast lees, before blending and bottling.
Independent Review
“The even flow offlavour, the balance, the unmistakable character of chardonnay. Therearen’t too manysub-$40 wines that would beat this for quality. It tastes of nectarine, honeycomb, grilled peach,grapefruit and citrus, withcedarwood notes lending a hand. At every step it feels pure but then it also feels charismatic.We’re really onto something here.” 94 Points - Campbell Mattinson, campbellmattinson.com (Published April 2025)
