Woodlawn Waverley Vineyard Chardonnay 2023

Ricky describes this plot of Chardonnay as ripening “almost at a standstill.” Always the last site to harvest, showing the great complexity we expect from long-hung fruit. These grapes were whole bunch pressed into French puncheons and barriques for a wild ferment. The wine went through partial malo and saw 11 months on lees in barrel, before moving to a tank where it finished maturation. A river-pebble minerality accompanied what Dave Brookes describes as “nectarine and hints of spiced oatmeal,” with a "stony, savoury, lemony presence - like sucking on a river pebble." Stunning.