Southern Light Vineyards Ghostgum Chardonnay 2022 13% 750ml

Southern Light Vineyards Ghostgum Chardonnay 2022 13% 750ml

TASTING NOTES

AROMA
Perfumed with fresh sage leaf, white peach and nashi pear. There is a subtle undercurrant of brioche bun, almond meal, and struck match, characteristic of oak maturation. A touch of lemon curd on the nose follows through to the palate.

PALATE
Strong citrus core, showing lime, mandarin and orange peel. It has an acid drive that goes for days, with a wet rock minerality to close. Once again, a wine full of energy and poise which will benefit further with bottle age for years to come.

VINIFICATION

Hand-picked and transported in a refrigerated truck to our winery in Healsville for whole bunch pressing after a night in the cool room. Cloudy juice was transferred to 300L French oak barrels (20% new) for indigenous fermentation. Post sugar fermtation some of the barrels were sulphered and stored away in the cold barrel store to prevent malo-lactic fermentation, thus retaining some of that electric acid. A portion of barrels (around 30%) were kept in a warmer part of the winery and left un-sulphered to encourage malo which lowers the acid and adds texture to the wine. The final blend utilises both these components to create a more complex wine.

VINTAGE NOTES
2022 was a cool and wet year on the Mornington Peninsula. Severe storms and plenty of rain in Spring wreaked havoc during flowering. Chardonnay escaped teh worst of the weather, and yields were slightly above average, but still very low at 4.5 tonnes per hectare, which resulted in a wine with more minerality and citrus fruit than the 2021.