Garagiste Chardonnay 'Le Stagiaire' 2023
Regular price $36.00
Unit price per
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TASTING NOTE: In the words of winemaker Barney, the 2023 is “just as delicious as the 2022. There’s a touch more freshness due to the cooler season, but overall, there’s a great balance between fruit weight and structure.” The hallmarks of the season—freshness, finesse and potent flavour—are clear and crystal in the glass. Teeming with citrus, flowers and stone fruits, and balanced by round texture and snappy acidity, there’s linear drive and a savoury, salty close. It’s a smashing release, on equal footing with the brilliant 2022. At a time when we are calling out for great value, this wine delivers in spades.
- ABOUT THE WINE: Merricks North forms the backbone of the 2023 release, weighing in at 45% of the blend, followed by Balnarring (35%) and Tuerong (20%). The fruit was sorted in the vineyard and winery before being pressed as whole bunches directly to 500-litre puncheons. The fruit fermented with indigenous yeast with no temperature control, followed by a seven-month maturation on gross lees to build richness slowly. A couple of barrels went through malolactic conversion, and the nicely integrated new oak component stands at 15%.
- ABOUT THE PRODUCER: Barney Flanders created his label in 2006 and today focuses on a range of small-batch Mornington Peninsula wines with the emphasis on single-site, sub-regional expressions of his region. Flanders’ goal is to work with high-quality, respectably farmed parcels from Tuerong and Moorooduc, in the North (sandy soils), to the more central Merricks and Merricks North (brown loam/red volcanic soils) and finally the more elevated and southern sub zones of Red Hill and Main Ridge (vibrant red volcanic soils). The winemaking tenets here are quite simple: precise picking to capture acidity, whole bunch pressing (for the Chardonnay), natural ferments and a maximum of 20 to 35% new oak. Maturation is in large (300 to 500-litre) barrels to make fresher wines for keeping, and the wines are neither fined nor filtered. Barney manages all aspects of the viticulture and winemaking and a shining range of succulent, finely tuned and elegantly crafted cool-climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay is what results.
- COUNTRY: Australia
- REGION: Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
- VARIETAL: Chardonnay
- WINE STYLE: White Wine
- WINEMAKER: Barney Flanders
- CLASSIFICATION: Sustainable Farming
- CLOSURE: Screwcap
- ABV%: 13%
- SIZE: 750ml
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