"Light to mid-yellow hue, with a reserved, shy bouquet which has traces of lemon balm, creamy lees and pencil wood, while the flavour is tremendously intense and focused, powerful in an understated way, with lemon and grapefruit flavours, showing concentration as well as subtlety, the finish lingering on and on. Time will doubtless build that bouquet further. A smashing chardonnay. 27 NOV 2021
2021–2032" Huon Hooke 96/100
The GC Chardonnay (GC – Gary Charles) is attributed to all the knowledge we have been able to extract from Gary to create a close planted / high density planting of chardonnay on an exposed côte. These hillsides facing North, North East and East will be the backbone of the Farr dynasty for decades to come.
They consist of the most suitable clones, rootstocks, trellising and management you will find for our landscape. This is our tribute to what ‘Gazza’ has achieved and provoked over 40 years not only in our region but for chardonnay and pinot noir of Australia.
The North côte is a red to brown loam with buckshot stones across the surface. The most exposed of the three côtes, the North côte is harvested last of all because of the large amount of clay, holding valuable moisture for a much longer time than the other slopes.
The East côte is divided through the centre of the slope by a rise. Black volcanic soil with fragmented limestone in one direction and grey loam with buckshot stones in the other direction. Soil is King as the East côte has the least amount of clay and therefore least water-holding capacity resulting in it being harvested first even though it is the coolest côte of the three.
VINIFICATION
The fruit is hand-picked then whole-bunch pressed in the winery. All the solids are collected and chilled before being put to barrel, which are 50 per cent new French oak. A natural fermentation will occur at cool temperatures over the next one to two months, and then a small amount of stirring helps start malolactic fermentation. The wine is then racked, fined and lightly filtered before bottling 11 months after picking. A complete chardonnay.
TASTING NOTES
The wine has an amazing smoothness and calmness that stretches the length of the palate, surrounded with textured fruit and mineral elements. We have been playing with the fruit from these vineyards for more than 8 years, fine tuning the style of wine that these vineyards are producing. What a result once it all came together.
