2022 Stevens Road Chardonnay

Colour :Pale Straw.

Nose:The bouquet of this elegant Chardonnay displays delicate white fleshed stone fruits, citrus and floral characters with underlying hints of sea spray and wet stone adding complexity.

Palate:The sophisticated palate is medium bodied, offering white peach and lemon/lime flavours with a wonderful saline tang. A crystalline, mineral structure combines with bracing acidity focussing the wine to a crisp, lingering finish.

Cellaring Potential:A modern, refined style of Chardonnay, displaying classic Margaret River hallmarks. The 2022 Stevens Road Chardonnay is a wine which, while drinking well in its youth will certainly reward with careful cellaring, developing further complexity from bottle maturation.

Varietal:Chardonnay (100%)

Vintage:2022

Region:Margaret River

Conditions:After a long, and relatively cold and wet winter, budburst was later than usual, and about a week or two later than last season. Spring brought about more wet and windy conditions, which also affected fruit set. Despite the late start to the season, the fantastic WA summer saw warm, fine weather and a few very hot periods, allowing the growing season to catch up. Marri trees had a bumper year for blossom, which always bodes well, distracting birds away from the fruit (at least for the first half of the season while the blossom lasted). There was no significant weather pressure early in the vintage, in fact the warm conditions meant the whites were harvested at a frenetic pace to preserve natural acidity. Yields were relatively low however the fruit quality was excellent with great flavour intensity. In summary 2022 will be remembered as an outstanding vintage in Margaret River. The fruit for this Chardonnay is from Block 2 of our Stevens Road Vineyard, situated on the Boodjidup Brook, approximately 3km from the winery. Fruit of this mature, low yielding vineyard has consistently produced some of our best Chardonnay each vintage. The pedigree of the vineyard deserves recognition, so much so, that we release the best barrels as a Single Vineyard wine.

Alcohol:13%

Bottle Size:750ml

pH:3.02

Winemaking Notes:Made entirely from Gingin clone Chardonnay, which was handpicked on the 24th of February. The fruit was whole bunch pressed, followed by 100% barrel fermentation in select French oak (20% new oak). Wild fermentation was encouraged on all components, to introduce more complexity and personality into the wine. All barrels were lees stirred throughout a nine-month oak maturation period, without any malolactic fermentation. The final blend was curated in November 2022. The 2022 Xanadu Stevens Road Chardonnay is made from qualifying grapes at a winery certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia.