Bartinney Chardonnay

Tasting Notes

Aromatic ripe yellow citrus, like crushed lemon peel, is balanced by the merest whiff of freshly baked brioche. This aroma carries through to the palate with a lemony creme brulee mouthfeel. Despite it’s subtle oak structure, it presents a fresh and youthful flavour, finished by a creamy lingering aftertaste, which centres the focus back to the expansive wine structure.

Harvest and Winemaking Information

A long cold and wet winter made way for a cool dry spring. This assured even flowering, especially for the earlier ripening varieties such as Chardonnay. Later on, the growing season got wetter and remained cool, slowing down the vine phenology, and the eventual ripening speed of the grapes. Very hot mid thirty degrees spells in January did not accelerate the ripening, as the vines shut down during persistent heat to protect themselves. Luckily, Bartinney’s vineyards were well buffered against such extreme conditions, and produced a bumper crop of Chardonnay grapes with very good flavour.

The first vines planted on Bartinney, were Chardonnay, planted in 1990. These are also the highest plantings on the estate. The steep slopes, on which the vines grow, let the grapes ripen at different stages. Each batch is picked when we believe they are fully ripe. The picked grapes are crushed, the juice is settled for 2 days, and then transferred to 225l oak barrels. The barrel blend is up to 34% new. The toasting is very light (blond), and the wood grain extra tight, to avoid overly toast and smoke characteristics which will mask the wines fruit flavour. After fermentation, a portion of the wine goes through spontaneous malolactic fermentation. The wine matures for about 11 months in barrel before it is racked, blended and bottled.

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