Description
John and Melissa Innes moved to the iconic Coonawarra region 25 years ago intending to, in John’s words, “stay a little while”. They bought a parcel of land including natural wetlands dotted with Ottelia Ovalifolia, a native waterlily. Together they have spent nearly half a lifetime in the Limestone coast region, John working as a winemaker and consultant across its unique wine growing regions & Melissa establishing a restaurant on the property. John knows the Limestone Coast inside out; its wine growing regions of Coonawarra, Wrattonbully, Mount Benson and Mount Gambier, their different soils, their climates. That’s the background, the knowledge and with the enthusiasm John brings to Ottelia.
John’s winemaking philosophy owes plenty to 5 transformative years at the beginning of his career under the watchful eye of highly regarded Italian winemaker Carlo Corino, who taught him that winemaking was, in essence, all about using very good quality fruit and spending time in the vineyard.
“The winemaker’s role is to capture and manage the fruit quality from the vineyard through to the finished wine. The vineyards that I work with are all managed in a sustainable way to produce fruit that is of optimal quality and flavour. These vineyards minimise the use of sprays and concentrate on maintaining a healthy environment and vineyard. While not organic, they adhere to the fundamental principles of low input and sustainable viticulture.” – John Innes
Wines are made on their property in Coonawarra, which is also home to the recently revamped restaurant run by daughter Matilda and her chef husband Paul. Spectacular terrazzo abounds with veges from their own patch and most produced sourced within a 5km radious. Bravo! The Ottelia wines represent the best of the Limestone Coast and offer wonderful value.
About this wine: The 2024 Ottelia Chardonnay is sourced from the Mount Gambier wine region within the Limestone Coast. The vineyards are planted in fractured limestone, which forms much of the surface cover in this relatively flat but undulating area lying a few meters above sea level. Underlying the limestone is a ribbon of shallow but fertile soil that allows the vines to develop in this challenging soil profile. The surface limestone is very flinty, contributing to the mineral elements in the wine.
From the Ellis Vineyards which has a strong ocean influence and limestone soils. Maximum care is taken in the winemaking process to avoid over extraction and to maintain vibrant fruit characteristics. The juice was cold settled and racked. 1/3 of the juice was transferred to new French oak Puncheons and underwent a wild ferment followed by malolactic fermentation. The remaining juice was fermented in stainless steel tanks over a 3-week period. Both portions of the wine were left unsulphured on yeast lees with regular stirring. It was blended, stabilised and filtered just prior to bottling.
Complex aromatics with smoke and an ocean twang. Citrus characters dominate the palate, with a touch of lemon blossom, complimented by subtle notes of gun smoke, flint and fresh brioche. Lemon juice and candied zest, follow into wet stone minerality with a nuance of almond.
94 points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front “When you see those articles with ‘here are ‘x’ wineries to watch in ‘xxxx’ year’ you usually get an indication of some pretty good wine producers to cast a net over. I would have Ottelia in most such lists over the past few years, and reiterate that phrase again, here is a winery to watch. It feels like the 1%ers have been happening year on year. There’s some fairy dust happening amongst the concerted producers of Mount Gambier too – they feel like they’ve broken their horses in and are off at a gallop now. Also, how is the value here?!
“This one had me at hello. It shows off savoury wafts, almond, sea spray, ginger biscuits, proper, also, waxy honeycomb, green apple. Flavours are set to a similar line-up and there’s a little chalky pucker amongst some gloss and shine to texture. It waddles across the palate, gently staining in it, then finishes with all the brine, green herbs and pink grapefruit freshness reminiscent of a fine Paloma cocktail. Utterly delightful, and a cut above. Reminds me of Chablis of yesteryear when minerality was the byword there.”
** Special Introductory Offer $26.99 when you buy 6 or more of this wine**
