Deep Woods Estate Reserve Chardonnay 2022

2022 was a truly exceptional vintage in Margaret River. The season started beautifully with a wet spring and late flowering, followed by a warm and dry season, producing wines with refined flavour, elegance and real personality. Crucially, the Chardonnay ripened relatively slowly with great fruit weight, ripe stone fruit characters and of course a dash of Deep Woods Estate’s flint and funk on the nose! The picking window for Chardonnay was tight, with the majority of our best vineyards picked within a two-week time frame. This wine is an assemblage of largely two central Wilyabrup vineyards, with additional fruit coming from an excellent mature vineyard in Wallcliffe and a small amount of fruit from Karridale. The fruit was hand-picked and then chilled to maintain pristine condition. A minimalist approach in the winery included whole bunch pressing, wild fermentation and sparing lees stirring in a mixture of new and seasoned French oak. The individual parcels were kept separate and aged on lees for nine months until the final wine was blended for bottling.

The nose is complex and alluring showing a flinty minerality of river stone, sea breeze and chipped shell woven together with ripe citrus and a rich, nutty undertone. The palate is a triumph of medium-bodied power and persistence. Intense flavours of scratched lime, white nectarine and peach roll in layers across the tongue. Fine-grained oak underpins the expressive Gin Gin clone characteristics with a delicious, chewy texture drawing out the long finish.