2024 Chardonnay
In Margaret River, considered one of Australia’s premium chardonnay growing regions, Cape Mentelle creates wines of plush texture, depth and power, yet balanced with a fine frame of acidity. Built around the classic local Gingin clone, this multilayered and complex wine draws upon an additional array of clones and multiple microclimates within our sites, benefitting from cool nights to capture an exquisite vibrancy of fruit.
Nose
Pretty aromas conjuring up delicate white flowers, peach and yellow nectarine
are enhanced with notes of cashew, white nougat and marzipan.
Palate
The palate is powerful and vibrant, evolving with a beautiful rounded mouthfeel. There is a succulent core of fruit with an ocean freshness; ripe peach, green pear and toasted nuts accentuated by a salivating salinity. The fine phenolics and satin texture provide fantastic length, balanced with perfectly integrated French oak.
Blend
100% chardonnay
Cellaring
Will age gracefully for 10 - 15 years
Food Pairing Notes
Poached scallops with nectarine purée.
Pan-roasted gnocchi, zucchini cream, goat cheese and lemon.
Melon, burrata and crispy prosciutto salad.
The Vineyard
Chardonnay is grown on our two southern vineyards, about 15 minutes south of the Margaret River township. The two sites differ greatly in terms of aspect, soil profile, temperature extremes and rainfall. These conditions result in a variation of fruit profile which highlights the vineyard site, our region and the seasonal conditions each year. During the season our focus is to ensure good canopy growth while allowing air flow and sunlight in. This naturally reduces disease risk and encourages good fruit set in early summer. The majority of our chardonnay blocks are hand harvested in the cooler early morning conditions. Our aim is to produce fruit that showcases a great expression of site, with bright natural acidity, depth of flavour and purity of fruit. Vintage 2024 will be remembered as the season with barely any rain across the entire growing period and one of the region’s earliest starts to harvest. The fruit quality was great, and the marri blossom was abundant which kept the birds at
bay!
Winemaking
From our two southern vineyards, the majority of chardonnay fruit was hand-picked, cooled overnight before being whole bunch pressed and the juice was transferred to barrel, with all the solids, for wild fermentation. The balance of the fruit, following cool night harvesting, was gently pressed and the juices were allowed to settle overnight before being racked to barrel, for fermentation with selected yeast. The French oak selection focused on lifting fruit vibrancy and enhancing characteristics of each plot, with 30% of the barriques being new. The wine was then left unsulphured for a few weeks post-ferment and matured on lees for 10 months, with a stirring regime monitored by tasting to build texture. The final wine, blended in November 2024, showcases the unique taste and power of the Gingin clone from our Chapman and Crossroads sites.
Analysis
13.1% alcohol
7.65 g/l total acidity
3.09 pH
Suitable for vegans