Dukes Margaret River Chardonnay 2022

Cool wet winter with a very high rainfall followed by a warm to hot and dry summer. The vines grew quickly, developing excellent canopies. Delayed bud burst, which affected flowering, gave lower yields. Canopies were hand tended, with fruit dropped where necessary, but the balance was excellent. Hand harvesting was highly selective with sorting in vineyard, but fruit was clean with excellent ripeness. All clones had very complex aromatics and flavours with bright acidities. This was a cool vintage that allowed slow development of complex characters and beautiful acidities. Nestled in the Margaret River hills is Victory Point Vineyard, the source of the beautiful fruit for the first Chardonnay from Duke's Vineyard. Four clones grown in gravelly clay loams were hand-picked, whole bunch pressed cold, wild yeast barrel fermented in French barriques and hogsheads (35% new) and sat on lees for 10 months before blending and bottling. The resulting wine is a focused, elegant expression of flint and mineral with great generosity and textural creaminess. 261 cases made. Appearance: pale hay, green tinged edges Aroma: lemon citrus wet granite, mineral, lemon curd tart, toasted brioche, malted oats, cream, vanilla pod, touch of anise, white peach, yellow nectarine, raw cashew, hint of basil leaf, curry leaf Palate: meyer lemon, delicate and creamy, almond meal, cashew butter, refined elegant, mineral length on palate, round fine powdery framing, juicy, fine boned, baked crust, lemon pith, green lime skin, good weight, width and length, focused fine