L.A.S. Vino Wildberry Springs Chardonnay

The L.A.S Vino Wildberry Springs Chardonnay has pale yellow hues with rich aromas of ginger, green apples, pineapples, nougat, grapefruit, and custard notes. The palate is rich and creamy but perfectly balanced out with an acid line underneath that weight. This fine balance is layered and built into a very long finish.

Sitting in the heart of Willyaburp, growing on rich gravelly loam soils, this 25-year-old vineyard is immaculate, with no vines out of place. It took a few years before the fruits can be picked from the vineyard. Planted by John Durack, whose family were the first to bring the cattle over the top end into Kimberly. The majority of this wine is made from gin-gin, with a small percentage of clone three and five for complexity.

The grapes were handpicked, first thing in the morning, chilled overnight, whole bunch pressed and naturally fermented in oak. The primary fermentation took over 9 months to complete and was still ticking away in November. A natural malo occurred during this time as well. The lees were stirred fortnightly, but this wine was in constant flux due to the extended fermentation. Bringing energy, texture and weight to a wine, which in previous years has been known for its purity and tension. 8 barrels of this wine were fermented and matured in 1 -2-year-old French oak, In addition, a singular new stockinger Austrian oak barrique and a singular new Damy allier barrique were used too.

13.5%

AWARD & ACCOLADES

- 94 POINTS
It’s from Willyabrup but flavour-wise it’s not as we know it. Arguably. This is so fine, so tense, so nervy, so real. It has the goods and it knows it and yet still it feels apprehensive, intensely wrought; different. It tastes of ginger and green apples, green pineapple, bran, a touch of nougat, grapefruit and something else, something both creamy and unnerving at once. With its great complexity comes great elegance, both of which are remarkable in themselves. I’m not so much taken by it as taken aback; it’s a wine, as you drink it, that starts turning over in your mind. In fact, it makes you look it in the eye, and wonder.

Nic Peterkin is on a roll, pushing traditional winemaking without dropping the ‘please drink me’ edge. Sourced from the 20-year-old Wildberry Springs vineyard, with 70% of the grapes fermented in ceramic eggs, the balance in barriques. Malolactic fermentation and yeast lees stirring add an extra dimension to the rich peach and melon flavours. The acid is of crisp Granny Smith apples and pink grapefruit, the finish lush and creamy. Enjoy with marron in any form; don’t overchill.
- 92 POINTS
Pale yellow hues. The nose quite rich with toffee walnuts and custard notes. The palate carries that same richness, with a creaminess that harks back to fuller styles in the '90s. However, this isn't a fat buttery number, there's a driving acid line underneath that weight which keeps building momentum into a very long finish. Layered amongst that is a light fuzz of phenolics as well adding another structural component.
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