The unpredictable benevolence of Mother Nature

In 2016 we made a decision to change the way we made our flagship Chardonnay. Instead of using reliable and consistent laboratory yeast we switched to the ancient practice of relying on the wild yeasts that blow into the vineyard during the ripening season. In doing so we handed the chardonnay grapes, pictured here, over to the unpredictable benevolence of Mother Nature.

It was a decision that has met with spectacular success. Although the wine hasn’t even been released yet it has already won five Gold Medals at leading wine shows around the country the latest of which was on Friday when it won a Gold Medal at The Wine Show of Western Australia. In fact the 2016 wild yeast fermented Chardonnay has won Gold in every competition in which it has been entered with many more to come.

So here’s to Mother Nature, she may be wildly unpredictable but there’s no doubt at all that in our small vineyard in Margaret River in the summer of 2016 she was at her magnificent best.