MATURATION

Fermentation in stainless steel was quickly followed by bottling to retain freshness.

WINEMAKERS NOTES

The Silex vineyard is located at Kongorong, some 80 kilometres South of Coonawarra. The community has been famous for quite some time for its cheddar cheese. It also has a small and very specialized grapegrowing community. Its proximity to the Southern Ocean and the cold afternoon/evening sea breezes which seem to blow most days during the growing season make it one of the coolest places in Australia to grow grapes. This coolness results in a slow extended ripening period delivering high natural acidity and delicate fruit characters.

Silex is a term used in Europe to describe flint or chert rock. The weathered limestone at this site has an extremely hard flint-like cap with a shallow layer of red clay loam. This and the weather make viticulture a real challenge.

The 2019 vintage was very early but harvesting was delay just long enough to lower extremely high acid levels so that a balanced wine was achieved without a large amount of residual sugar being left in the wine. Typical cool climate delicate fruit characters were still captured.

Time in the bottle will see the yeastiness fade more into the background and the lime and apple characters will become more obvious. Toasty bottle age will add complexity if you can resist the temptation for 3 to 5 years in the cellar.