Tolpuddle Vineyard Tasmania Chardonnay 2017 (Australia)

Tolpuddle Vineyard Tasmania Chardonnay 2017 (Australia)"An exquisite wine, very refined, tight and delicate yet intensely flavoured, with great acidity part of its racy palate. It invites comparison with fine Chablis, not least because of the flinty, chalky mineral aroma, which is quite unlike most Aussie Chardonnay" Huon Hooke, Real Review, Nov 2018 This years fruit was amongst the best seen from Tolpuddle Vineyard. There was record rainfall during the growing season, presenting challenges but also

"An exquisite wine, very refined, tight and delicate yet intensely flavoured, with great acidity part of its racy palate. It invites comparison with fine Chablis, not least because of the flinty, chalky-mineral aroma, which is quite unlike most Aussie Chardonnay" Huon Hooke, Real Review, Nov 2018

This year’s fruit was amongst the best seen from Tolpuddle Vineyard. There was record rainfall during the growing season, presenting challenges but also ensuring good vine growth and health. Ripening was long and cool and fortunately conditions remained dry and cool right through to harvest, allowing excellent flavour development and natural acid retention.

This wine is true to the Tolpuddle Vineyard Chardonnay style: fine and precise with firm acidity, and a combination of lightness of texture and intensity of flavour. The 2017 vintage reflects a wonderful, cool season and the results of the detailed work done in the vineyard. The grapes were all hand picked, whole bunch pressed, and fermented in French oak. The wine spent nine months in barrel with gentle stirring as required, then rested in tank on lees.

Tolpuddle Vineyard is an outstanding site within the Coal River Valley region. Planted in 1988 solely to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the vineyard takes its name from the Tolpuddle Martyrs, whose “reward” for starting England’s first agrarian union was to be transported to Tasmania as convicts. The vineyard is on a gentle slope, north-east facing. The soil is light silica sands over sandstone, and of moderate vigour, ensuring well-balanced vines. Since acquiring the vineyard in 2011, Martin Shaw and Michael Hill Smith have invested heavily in improving all aspects of the vineyard, including soil improvement, conversion to cane pruning, trellis modifications, frost protection and clonal improvements. They are fully committed to seeing it recognised as one of Australia’s great single vineyard sites.

Located about a 20 minute drive from Hobart, in Tasmania’s south-east, the Coal River Valley has established a reputation for growing exceptional quality grapes. With a climate that is at the cool extremes for viticulture, it is no surprise that Chardonnay and Pinot Noir perform so splendidly. An anomaly for such a cool climate is that the rainfall is significantly lower than many of Australia’s other cool climate regions, with an average of approximately 500mm of rain per year. This cool but relatively dry climate allows the grapes to ripen slowly in autumn, without the disease pressure that rain can bring, resulting in grapes of great aromatic intensity.

Food Pairing: Pan fried scallops.