2006 Climbing Chardonnay

Defined by altitude, Orange is one of Australia's highest and coolest wine regions starting at 600 metres above sea level. The name Climbing is an active reference to our high altitude vineyard and our continual quest for greater achievement.

Vintage Conditions

“Our practice of reducing crops to achieve flavour balance paid off in this our third vintage, with wines showing great balance and depth of varietal fruit flavour.” – Philip Shaw. The lead up to harvest 2006 was ideal with moderate rain falling between November and January. The rain stopped well before harvest, so the season was warm, dry and around 2 weeks early. Careful canopy management resulted in low crops of around 7.5t/hectare and intense fruit flavour. This Chardonnay was picked in early March, showing clean, strong fruit flavour and a sugar level of 13-13.5 Baume.

Winemaking Notes

The chardonnay was harvested at night below 15C to avoid any oxidation and assist in cold settling. With cool clean fruit harvested the juice settled well.

A cool fermentation was initiated in vat with a combination of yeast culture and native yeast. A portion was transferred to barrel where it finished fermentation. Both the vat and barrel wines were topped and stirred regularly on lees after fermentation until early July. The final wine was racked off lees, cold stabilised, gently casein fined, then bottled in early August.

Tasting Notes

Winemaker Philip Shaw says of the 2006 Chardonnay “This wine has lovely bright, lemony, tropical fruit characters. It shows flavour complexity from time on yeast lees and in oak. Also apparent is elegance and refinement, which is typical of the Orange region. I like the intensity of fruit flavour on the palate, as well as the length and noticeable creamy finish. This is drinking really well now and will continue to evolve over the next 3-5 years.”