Fraser Gallop Estate 2008 Chardonnay

Decreased quantity but increased quality seems to be the theme of the 2008 Fraser Gallop Estate Chardonnay. It sees a return to the one third oak regime which when teamed with the superb fruit allowed us to achieve the more elegant, linear style where all aspects come together to produce a complex yet well structured wine which is both subtle and powerful.

Winemaker's Notes

Vintage 2008 The 2008 season was another great year with a wet winter in 2007 laying down the foundations of ample moisture in the clay sub-soils that bode well for the dry 2008 growing season. The hail storm that passed over our vineyard in spring devastated the Chardonnay block, missed the Cabernet but nailed the Petit Verdot. This had an obvious affect on the yields but one positive out of this was the increased quality. Picking times for the 2008 vintage were as normal as you get, not early, not late and we achieved full ripeness without any disease pressure. It was a warm season without any major heat spikes, confirming Margaret River region as one of the most consistent premium grape growing regions in Australia.

Viticultural Notes The Fraser Gallop Estate vineyard constantly produces first class fruit, 2008 was no exception. Yields of Chardonnay were very low due to a severe spring hail storm in late October which decimated the vineyard during flowering, consequently we only processed one third of our normal Chardonnay tonnage. The Chardonnay is sourced off unirrigated blocks resulting in concentrated fruit, and the vines are caned pruned to ensure the fruit is of the highest quality. Throughout the growing season two passes with the vine trimmer were required to ensure maximum fruit exposure. Just after berry set the vines were leaf plucked to open the canopy and ensure good fruit exposure to aid in flavour development.

Winemaking Notes Once hand harvested, the fruit was transferred directly to cool rooms and chilled to 8°C overnight. The bunches were gently whole bunch pressed. This allowed us to only extract the juice from the fleshy interior of the berries and not the juice next to the skin, thereby minimising phenolic (tannic) pick up and resulting in a juice with exquisite seamless structure. The chardonnay juice was then pumped to a stainless steel tank, where it was chilled and settled for 24 hours before racking to French barriques, of which one third were new. The juice in barrel was inoculated with a few different yeast strains which were chosen to give complexity, while maintaining a linear structure. The barrels were transferred to the coolroom for fermentation and the temperature was kept below 18°C to retain primary fruit characters. After the primary fermentation was complete 10 % of the barrels were allowed to go through Malolactic fermentation to increase the complexity of the wine without compromising the lovely mineral acidity the 2008 vintage gave us in the grapes. After fermentation the barrels were stirred weekly for a month, this resulted in a creamy mouthfeel to complement the linear acid structure of the wine. The wine spent nine months in barrel before being blended and bottled.

Colour

An attractive straw green colour with lime green hues reflects the care taken during the fruit handling, whole bunch pressing and subsequent barrel maturation.

Nose

The nose has an attractive combination of grapefruit, preserved lemons, pears, white flowers, fennel, and matchstick aromas.

Palate

The wine also has a subtle underlying creaminess from the batonnage of the barrels with subtle vanillin oak on the finish. The palate is lean and zesty, yet intensely flavoured with great length and breadth of taste. Beautifully textured and wonderfully dry it has a glint of grapefruit and slate on a taut finish.

Cellaring

The well judged acidity and firm structure will allow this wine to age gracefully and develop toasty complexity over the next 10 years.