Colour: Pale gold with green hue.
Aroma: Very lifted with flint and shortbread opening up to jasmine, kaffir lime and candied citrus. Complex and ever evolving in the glass.
Palate: Delicate yet powerful a true expression of the Cape Grace site showing candied citrus, white nectarine and peach fruit. Layers of cashew nuts and crème brulée give textural weight while a saline mineral acidity gives line and length to the palate. Underlying flint and marzipan add intrigue to a stunning wine.
A Chardonnay that will develop more weight and complexities over the next 10 years.
Production: 600 bottles. Harvest: 27th February 2023. Technical Data: Alc 12.5% | pH 3.24 | TA 7.20 g/L
Vinification: Rows 1 -9 were selected as exceptional quality and hand harvested on the morning of 27th February on the Home block Chardonnay. A total of 1.6 tons was harvested. The fruit was whole bunch pressed straight to 3 French oak barriques 2 being new. The barrels were left to ferment with wild yeast from the vineyard and winery cool and slow taking 30 days to ferment dry. The barrels were stirred weekly for 2 months then monthly for 6 months with the total time in oak being 9 months. The final blend comprised of 450L (50 cases) and is 60% new oak.
Viticulture: Our vineyard is farmed using sustainable biological principals. No use of herbicides and creating biodiversity through multi specie cover crops. Canopy management is vital, hedging, leaf plucking and fruit thinning are used to control exposure to sunlight, increase airflow and further our effort to deliver perfectly ripe, balanced grapes to the winery.
2023 Vintage Rating 9/10: Winter was cool and long here in Margret River with even a few frosts that are very rare. This helped with dormancy and pruning could be done in a timely manner. It stayed cool all the way through till the end of November pushing budbreak and flowering back up to 3 weeks on last year. By the end of November the weather was perfect without a drop of rain till 3rd of March. Warm but not hot conditions with temperatures around 30 degrees helped things catch up from the late spring. No Marri blossom has meant there were a lot of nets on and off protecting fruit from birds as it ripens. Yields were higher than the previous two vintages and the overall quality of fruit is exceptional.
Review: This is a tiny production wine, but it’s great to see Cape Grace putting their energies into producing something special. It was wild fermented into 60% new oak, and although there’s been minimal intervention, it shows tremendous complexity. It has a minerally, gun-flinty edge to the grapefruit and slightly cashew-like characters. The texture is quite creamy, but there’s a nice edgy acidity and minerality that gives it focus and a linear feel. Lifted florals with a lovely palate structure and deep flavour combinations. 96 Points Cellar 10 years. Ray Jordan Wine
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