Our first year back at Swallowfield vineyard which is one of the most southerly vineyards in the Yarra Valley. Sitting at around 300 metres above sea level, this vineyard is on an outcrop of granite and quartz in Gembrook. Hand picked Chardonnay, crushed and sent to 500l puncheons with full solids, the juice is oxidised before natural ferment and elevage where malo-lactic fermentation took nearly 11 months. No additions were made to this wine apart from a dose of SO2 a week before bottling.

Claude Bourguignon the revered French Agronomist spent some time analysing this vineyard, describing it as one of the most exciting that he had seen on his trip to Australia. He loved the elegance and light touch. A vineyard that holds it’s acidity well and always releases electric whites more akin to those of Burgundy than the warmer parts of the lower Yarra Valley.