Little Reddie SYR Lancefield Chardonnay 2019

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$40.00

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Another Single Year Release (SYR) from Pat Underwood at Little Reddie.

In the glass

'A little reduced on opening. Needs time to relax - I ended up decanting my bottle and was very happy to have done.

Sherbet, nettle, goats milk yogurt, honey combs, extra virgin olive oil, sweet hickory aromatics - quite lifted, white roses.
There’s a white density that is so delicious. Chalky and dense.
Very lifted, layered flavours - myer lemon pith, lemon rind, candied orange rind, goats curd, rocky chalk, powerful zing. A bit like a can of solo during river swim in the heat of summer. The mineral / acid play is really wonderful - not something I've seen from many Little Reddie wines. It’s bit grown up.

Once open its very, very yummy.

Vineyard

From a tiny planting of 10v5 clone higher up on a gently north facing slope.
Planted in 98 and 99, it's not a super close planting which can reduce water pressure on a hilltop site. Soils are richer volcanic. There is visible basalt, scoria and some quartz when walking the vineyard, less of the red soils found over the fence and down the hill at Curly Flat. 490 meters above sea level.

Winemaking

Quite a hard pick for me to call as its by far the coolest site I’ve made chardonnay from.
Felt like it could have hung out for weeks longer however flavour and acid balance was wonderful. Gently whole bunch pressed leaving substantial yield behind to give the wine better acid and phenolic balance.
Settled in tank overnight, racked to a mix of old puncheon and barrique without addition.

Lovely slow ferments, barrels were chilled early to keep yeast populations low and slow, fermenting through winter and into summer with regular weekly topping.

The 19’ chardonnays were an opportunity to really focus on lees development - particularly as summer arrives. I see the impact of both oxygen and lees compounding rapidly during December, January and February. Racked off gross lees to tank on boxing day with a tiny sulphur addition at this point. Remained undisturbed in tank for a further six months then racked twice for clarity - sulphur additions during the move. Bottled 19th August 2020.'

- Pat Underwood

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Little Reddie SYR Lancefield Chardonnay 2019

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