Article by:
Punt Road
Vintage
The base wine is a blend of 86% chardonnay (Block 12, clone I10V1) and 14% pinot noir (Block 13, clone 115) hand harvested in the early morning from our estate vineyard. 2012 was an excellent vintage for sparkling fruit, with vigorous canopies and mild conditions. Crop levels were slightly below average, leading to fruit intensity and excellent acid levels.
Winemaking
We took a shorter free run cut at the press to minimize phenolic extraction. A small portion was fermented in old French hogsheads. We blended with the aim of making a chardonnay dominant wine, 2012 being an outstanding year for whites in general (and the Yarra’s strongest variety!).
The wine was tiraged in September of 2012, and spent nearly four years in bottle on lees in an underground cellar at a temperature of around 10 degrees C. It was disgorged in December of 2016.
Technical notes
Time on lees: 4 years
Vineyard: Napoleone Block 12 Chardonnay (2001), Block 13 Pinot Noir (2006)
Hand-harvested: 28/2/12
86% Chardonnay, 14% Pinot Noir
20% Malo
2% Oak fermented (Francois Freres)
8g/L dosage
Disgorged December 2016
$32 /750ml