Greystone Erin's Chardonnay 2019

The nose begins with a subtle array of citrus fruits, corn husk and savory before opening up into a wider array of richer stone fruit characters and spring flowers.Beautifully restrained by fine-grained oak and integrated acidity. A long flowing wine ready now, or age for up to ten years for increased complexity.

Erin's Chardonnay grows on our steepest and highest slopes, in limestone soils which impart a beautiful minerality and tension to the wine. The block is 100% Mendoza clone, which responds well to this terroir.2019 saw us harvesting eleven days earlier than 2018 with a small but concentrated crop. The dry weather in summer gave us pristine clean bunches of fruit. Extensive leaf plucking and bunch thinning ensured balanced happy vines. The Goldilocks autumn (not too hot- not too cold) saw us achieve perfect ripeness whilst able to preserve fruit flavours and acidity. Truly fantastic vintage for growing Chardonnay.

We hand picked our steepest block of Mendoza Chardonnay before a gentle whole-bunch pressing to tank without additions. We allowed the juice to settle overnight before we racked to French oak barrels for wild fermentation and fullmalolactic fermentation. The extended nature of fermentation brings not only richness to the wine but also layers and subtle complexity. Barrel ageing lasted 16 months before the wine was estate bottled without fining.

Elevagé 16 Months, 4 Oak Barriques 25% New