2016 Whitetail Blanc de Blancs
2016 Whitetail Blanc de Blancs
Whitetail is a blanc de blancs style, meaning that it is 100% sparkling chardonnay, made following traditional champagne making practices. It has been named after the flocks of endangered Whitetail black cockatoos that regularly visit our farm.
The grapes are handpicked when the sugar level is around 10.8 to 11.0 baume and when the grape flavours are in the greener spectrum of granny smith apple and lemons, but still retaining a high natural acidity level.
The grapes are chilled in the picking bins overnight, and then whole bunch pressed the next day. The juice is fermented in tank, then towards the end of ferment 14% of a barrel fermented chardonnay is blended in to provide weight and texture to the final wine. Once the ferment is dry, the wine stays on it’s yeast lees is allowed to go through malo-lactic fermentation.
The wine is filtered and bottled, then matured for another 14 months on yeast lees, on tirage, following traditional ‘methode traditionelle’ procedure, with the secondary ferment, which creates the bubbles, occurs in teh bottle that you are drinking from. The bottles are then riddled and disgorged.
The colour is medium to light-yellow and it has persistent mousse of bubbles. Aromas of lemon, granny smith apple, nashi pear, cashew nut and brioche, with hints of toast from development in the bottle. It’s soft and fruity, mouthfilling and rich on the palate, with a well-judged liqueur level and great drinkability. As it warms in the glass, some lovely honeyed complexities show through
A blanc de blanc sparkling chardonnay. The secondary ferment occurs in the bottle, which is when the magic happens and those glorious fine beads of bubbles are created. Whitetail is named after the endangered Whitetail Black Cockatoos who regularly visit our farm.
Vintage in the Margaret River region was tracking to be an earlier start due the warm and dry spring weather which continued on into Summer until a tropical rain event in mid January which delayed harvest slightly of the Chardonnay. Chardonnay from 2016 are quite exceptional with their high natural acidity levels, and intensity of flavours.
The grapes are grown in the Clairault Vineyard located on Henry Road in the Wilyabrup sub region of the Margaret River Wine Region. The vineyard is at an elevation of 120 metres above sea level. The vines are planted in gravelly ironstone sandy loam soils and the cool maritime winds coming off the Indian Ocean to the west during summer, give rise to wines of intensity and finesse.
Similar to our own vineyard management philosophy, Clairault manage their vineyard following biological sustainable farming practices, using a minimal spray application programme to prevent disease without the use of pesticides. Undervine grasses and flowering plants are retained throughout the year, providing habitats that encourage predatory insects and insect diversity throughout the vineyard
Huon Hooke The Real Review September 2018 92 Points
The colour is medium to light-yellow and it has a vigorous mousse of persistent bubbles. The bouquet suggests cream, cashew nut and egg custard, with hints of toast from development and a small proportion of barrel aged base-wine. It's soft and fruity, mouthfilling and rich on the palate, with a well-judged liqueur level and great drinkability. As it warms in the glass, some lovely honeyed complexities show through
Potato, pumpkin, squash, pineapple sage, turnips, thyme, mus-tard, tarragon, corn, sage, lemon, quince, vanilla, pink grapefruit, yellow peach, white nectarine, rockmelon, honeydew melon, fig, marjoram
$45.00
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