86 Block
2013 Chardonnay
Cellar Door Only

2013 86 Block Chardonnay

Chardonnay has been growing quite happily on the St. Jakobi vineyard since the early 1980s. There are three separate blocks that were planted in 1980, 1985 and 1986 and are some of the earliest plantings of Chardonnay in the Barossa Valley. We chose the 1986 block to provide us the fruit for our 2013 Chardonnay as it is this block that has always been a consistent performer in providing fruit suited to give wines of great flavour and finesse.

In our early days we produced Chardonnay under the WillowBend label and this continued for a number of years. Our first Vintage was 1990 and our last was 1998. After this we decided to stick to producing only red wine until 2011 when we thought that having a bit of white in The Shed would be a good idea. The 2011 86 Block Chardonnay was very well received and quickly sold through, so we’ve done it again in 2013.

Our aim has been to produce a wine that is crisp, mouth filling and flavoursome without being heavily influenced by oak. The fruit was harvested at 12 Baume and crushed with only the free run juice being used. Only a small proportion (20%) was barrel fermented in new French Oak Hogsheads with 100% of the volume going through Malo Lactic Fermentation following the primary ferment.

As a young wine this Chardonnay shows fresh citrus and peach like fruit flavours and is dry and crisp. With time it will soften and fill to show more rounded melon like fruit driven flavours and become even more mouth filling.

We trust you’ll enjoy it!

Winemaker: Wayne Dutschke
Vineyard: Ken Semmler’s St. Jakobi Vineyard, “86 Block”
Region: Lyndoch, Barossa Valley, South Australia
Varieties: 100% Chardonnay
Alcohol: 13.0%
Malo Lactic Fermentation: 100%
Oak Fermentation: 20% was fermented in New French Oak Hogsheads for only 1 month.
Cellaring potential: Drink now or cellar for a number of years and enjoy as a more complex wine.

Download Tasting Notes