Winemaker: Bruce Dukes
Viticulturalist: Richard Wilson
Vineyard: Margaret River, Warner Glen Estate
(Richie’s Block Chardonnay)

Varietal: Pure Gin Gin clone Chardonnay
Alcohol: 13.9 %
Cellaring: Drink now to 2017. Cellaring will be rewarded by increased complexity.
Oak: All of the wine was fermented and then matured for ten months in fine-grained French oak barriques.

Colour: Pale straw with strong green hue.

Bouquet: Lifted floral perfumes combine with aromas of citrus, fig and the most subtle hint of French oak.

Palate: The palate shows flavours of lemon-grass, white pear which are carried by succulentacidity, complexity and texture due to a subtle French oak presence.

Winemaking: Hand picked fruit in the cool morning with whole cluster pressing to enhance and emphasise texture. The juice was barrel fermented and matured with partial malolactic fermentation chosen to optimise fruit expression, texture and freshness.

Vintage: The 2010 vintage season started well with conditions characterised by gentle rainsand temperatures averaging 9 to16 C for the minimum and maximums. This allowed plenty of water penetration to the soil for the oncoming summer. The rest of the growing season from October to March was warmer and dryer than normal with a small spike in temperatures in mid January. These near perfect conditions for the vines corresponded to rapid ripening of the fruit. Vineyard managers and winemakers had to be spot on with sampling the vines and predicting ripening patterns – we had to work harder than normal to harvest our vines at optimal ripeness because the window of opportunity was much tighter than most otherseasons. Once again a superb vintage for the Southern Margaret River region.

Awards:

• 4 1/2 stars Winestate Magazine 2010
• Gold medal - Top 100 / Blue Gold Sydney International Wine Show 2011
• Silver medal - Qantas Mt Barker Wine Show of WA 2010
• Silver Medal - Winewise Small Vignerons 2010
• Silver medal - Scoop Review Spring 2010
• Rated 94 - James Halliday’s Wine Companion 2012