Garagiste Tuerong Chardonnay 2015

Description

Garagiste is definitely one of Mornington Peninsula’s brightest rising stars! Named in honour of the ‘Garagiste’ – ‘garage’ vintners of Bordeaux who thumbed their nose at the rigid traditions of chateaux, winemaker Barney Flanders makes succulent, finely tuned and elegantly crafted cool-climate Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris, highlighting the subtleties of the Peninsula’s different sub-regions with small batches of very limited and high quality wines. Fruit is sourced predominantly from highly prized Merricks Grove vineyard, Silverwood vineyard (Balnarring) and Hugh Robinson vineyard in Moorooduc. Since their first release in 2006 their wines are highly sought after, highly regarded and like their labels, very cool!

Garagiste’s Tuerong Chardonnay is drawn from the 6-acre Robinson vineyard where the 25-year-old vines are rooted in black sand over brown sandy loam. This north-facing site was harvested nice and early on the 18th February, almost two weeks before the Merricks Grove vineyard, which gives you some idea of the importance of aspect when it comes to the Mornington. The warmer and more stable microclimate here generates a fleshier, more satin textured wine yet the early harvest and partial malo provide the requisite mouthwatering crunch.
Again this was hand harvested, hand sorted and whole bunch pressed and went through natural fermentation in 500-litre puncheons (20% new François Frères) on high solids. And again the wine was matured on lees for 10 months before bottling. Another wonderful example of Mornington Chardonnay.