Oak Valley Chardonnay 2014

Oak Valley Chardonnay expresses generous fruit intensity of green apple, pear, citrus, cool lime and lemon freshness while retaining elegant restraint. More judicious use of oak compared to the 2013 vintage as the 2014 is defined by enhanced minerality and freshness. Oatmeal and hazelnut add complexity to a balanced finish. A slight departure from previous vintages in favour of a leaner, fruit forward and more refined style.

Cellaring potential of 5 - 8 years.

100% Chardonnay

Hand-picked into 18-20 kg lug boxes.

Harvest date: 20 February - 18 March 2014

Bunches are hand sorted, de-stemmed and go straight to press. Pressing juice is settled and racked into barrel where fermentation begins naturally. Fermentation in barrel occurs at 10-22°C until dry. The wine spends 9 months on the lees stirred once-a-month. For the first time, a portion (1,600 litre) was tank fermented and used in the final blend in order to achieve a greater level of freshness characterised by oak restraint. After alcoholic fermentation, it went through 10% malolactic which started spontaneously. The wine was matured for 9 months in 30% new French oak using 300 litre hogsheads while the remainder was in 2nd and 3rd fill barrels.