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2018 Chardonnay

The signature Chardonnay of Vasse Felix. It is made from a selection of premier Chardonnay parcels from Vasse Felix’s Vineyards in a modern Margaret River style with elegance, power and restraint.

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Tasting Notes

COLOUR Pale straw with a green tinge. NOSE An open perfume of white peach, white flowers, croissants and sweet cashews mingles with complex notes of lemon zest, waxy crayons, wet steel and ocean rocks. PALATE A succulent yet fine linear structure with a broad, elevated mouthfeel of white peach, lemon pith and cashews. A mouth-watering sweet and salty sensation leads to a lovely fresh acid finish. An array of complex flavours linger.

Winemaker Notes

Another cool season, yet beautiful fruit ripeness was achieved with elegant fruit perfumes and perfect sugar levels. With high natural acidity, just over half completed malolactic fermentation. 50% of the fruit was hand-harvested, gently whole-bunch pressed and transferred to French Oak Barriques as unclarified juice for wild fermentation. The remaining 50% was Selectiv harvested and direct pressed, with high solids juice racked to barrel and fermented with wild yeasts from the vineyard. Each parcel was left on lees in barrel for 9 months of maturation with battonage. The premier Chardonnay sections were a mix of approximately 66% Gingin clone, 16% Bernard clones 95, 96 and 76, and 18% Clone 1. The majority of the fruit was sourced from our Wallcliffe and Wilyabrup vineyards, with a small portion from our Karridale vineyard.

Varietals:

Production Notes

100% Chardonnay

Alcohol:

Alcohol %

13.0

Cellaring Potential:

Aging

Now until 2025

Harvested:

Harvest Date

Late Feb - March 2018

Oak:

Fermentation

French Oak Barrique, 43% New, 57% 1-3 year old, 9 months

TA:

Acid

6.7g/L

pH:

3.21

Residual Sugar:

Residual Sugar

1.26g/L

Bottled:

Bottling Date

June 2019

Vintage Notes

2018

Similar to the previous season, the 2018 vintage experienced cooler than average conditions. Spring and early Summer delivered intermittent cool then moderate weeks before a run of below average temperatures in January and February. Late January rain led to a fear of disease, however a beautiful period of ripening followed with ample sunshine and strong daily sea breezes preserving vibrant fruit flavours and acidity. Our white varieties ripened with ideal sugar levels and high malic acid content for the third year running, resulting in a desire to allow some natural malolactic ferment in Chardonnays. Meanwhile the reds ripened slowly and gently through a dry Autumn ensuring fully developed tannins and a slightly riper and fleshier fruit profile to 2017.