
Bannockburn Grigsby Chardonnay 2021
Named in honour of our viticulturalist Lucas Grigsby, who has been with us for 35 years. This is the first single vineyard release from our close planted Chardonnay block.
Minimum Order 6 Units (straight or mixed)
- Viticulture
- Winemaking
- Tasting Notes & Reviews
This organic certified block (NAASA 2021) is planted to 1.2m rows x 1.0m vine spacing, Bernard clone 76 Chardonnay on a north-south row exposition. The soils are made up of dark cracking clay over weathered basalt and limestone. The 2021 season was cool but also featured the rains of La Niña. A small yield of excellent quality fruit was picked on the 10th March.
The grapes were whole bunch pressed and settled overnight followed by racking to two second year French oak hogsheads for wild fermentation; one barrel was allowed to complete malolactic fermentation. The wine spent 11 months on lees with minimal stirring and was blended and bottled in February then rested in bottle until release.
94 points - Glowing straw colour. Full of flavour. Grilled peaches, juicy pears and some green pineapple too. This is a wine of both concentration and poise; it bursts up front and through the middle but then tightens considerably through the finish. Indeed there’s a fair amount of grip here. Woodsmoke notes rise through the aroma and appear again through the aftertaste. It’s complex. It’s a bit wild at heart. It’s not 100% cohesive at present, but it will become so. Campbell Mattinson, winefront.com.au.
Single Vineyard
2022 Vintage
We had another good year of rain across winter: the soils warmed up slowly which led to normal timing for budburst. The La Niña rains
continued through the first half of the growing season (630mm July to June) but eased after Christmas, although storms and hail were often in the forecast and nearby. Temperatures increased significantly in the second half of the season to a total of 1430 Growing Degree Days.
We started picking Chardonnay early March, and with only a couple of exceptions (Sauv Blanc and Riesling) the yields for every block were
near long term average. The fruit was in very good condition, picking weather was mostly very helpful and all the ferments went smoothly. Malic acid levels are average but most lots will go through malolactic fermentation in the
Spring.
At this stage the wines show promise: a nice balance of stone fruits and citrus in the Chardonnay, structure and transparency to season and site in the Pinot Noir and Shiraz.

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