Nocturne SV 'Forrest Vineyard' Chardonnay 2023

2023 – it’s a thing, and so is this wine. The best Nocturne SV Chardonnay to date... Yes, correct; I feel unequivocal on this. For a wine to have massive complexity and intensity, yet present it in a way that’s so harmonious, it’s hard to even realize it’s an assault to the senses – that’s when you know you have something special on your hands.

The fruit, of course, comes from a single site: the Forrest Vineyard in the Wilyabrup sub-region of Margaret River. Moreover, this wine is sourced from a tiny ridge section within the middle of this vineyard, selectively picked for this wine. Planted to the classic WA Gin Gin clone, it’s a wine of unbelievable natural acid presence and structural drive. The vineyard is otherwise largely flat and quite close to the coast, only some 3 kilometers away, and is planted on deep silver-grey sands. The picking date is generally relatively early in the Chardonnay season, given the vineyard’s low-yielding nature.

The grapes were handpicked on the 20th of February, two days earlier than in 2022. They were whole bunch-pressed directly to new, one-, and two-year-old puncheons, with no settling or fining processes. This juice was then carefully monitored, and spontaneous fermentation began on day five after pressing. After a four-week ferment, the wine remained on gross lees, un-sulphured until October of that year. In December, the wine was emptied from barrel, settled, filtered, and bottled.

This is an exciting site that holds amazing acid structure and lovely al dente tannin. It needs some time to truly unfurl, unfold, and show its true colors, but one sniff will reveal the character that Nocturne’s SV Chardonnays are famous for: flint, funk, just-ripe stone fruit, citrus, and hope... Hope that change is always about growth and, hopefully, improvement. Get around this wine – bright with flint, funk, and grilled lime – it’s a bright new future out there.

– Julian Langworthy