‘Styx Gully’ Chardonnay

Our Styx Gully is 100% Mt Barker grown; all the fruit from our best two blocks of Chardonnay on our Langton vineyard. Block 3 had a tiny crop with rich fruit flavours, Block 25 has deeper soils, a better crop and ripened later; it provided the fruit with higher acidity and delicate, finer fruit flavours. Some of the parcels were handpicked and whole bunch pressed; the balance of the fruit picked at night with low overnight temperatures and processed promptly at the winery. Our Styx is all barrel fermented (approx 40% new) with no malolactic fermentation; the result being a complex, but still fruit driven, style of Chardonnay

COLOUR

Bright, light gold/pale straw.

AROMA

Quite pungent and complex on the nose with delicious cashew nut/toasted sesame aromas and some lovely ‘baked peach’ fruit characters.

PALATE

This Chardonnay has a beautiful silkiness on the palate. The texture is compelling and leads into those delicious crème brulee and cashew nut flavours. It is very well integrated with the stone fruit flavours beautifully complemented by the subtle, toasty oak from the barrel fermentation and maturation. Being cool climate grown with no malolactic fermentation, our Styx Gully is a finer, more subtle style of Chardonnay and, with its lovely acidity, has resulted in this deliciously ‘silky’ wine with its rich flavours, great length and good dry finish. This Chardonnay is well integrated and is drinking beautifully now while it should also continue to develop with more bottle age.