Winery & Vintage Info
In Margaret River, considered one of Australia’s premium chardonnay growing regions, Cape Mentelle creates wines of plush texture, depth and power, yet balanced with a fine frame of acidity. Built around the classic local Gingin clone, this multilayered and complex wine draws upon an additional array of clones and multiple microclimates within our sites, benefitting from cool nights to capture an exquisite vibrancy of fruit.
Chardonnay is grown on our two southern vineyards, about 15 minutes south of the Margaret River township. The two sites differ greatly in terms of aspect, soil profile, temperature extremes and rainfall. These conditions result in a variation of fruit profile which highlights the vineyard site, our region and the seasonal conditions each year. During the season our focus is to ensure good canopy growth while allowing air flow and sunlight in. This naturally reduces disease risk and encourages good fruit set in early summer. The majority of our chardonnay blocks are hand harvested in the cooler early morning conditions. Our aim is to produce fruit that showcases a great expression of site, with bright natural acidity, depth of flavour and purity of fruit.
The 2022 season produced the coldest and wettest start to the growing season in over five decades. These cool spring conditions slowed vine development making it later than usual. Temperatures then radically increased during summer months, with the region experiencing multiple heat waves. The weather during harvest provided ideal conditions, combining warm temperatures and low rainfall, which allowed for extended ripening across the board.
Chardonnay was hand-picked with a ‘one plot, one batch’ approach and cooled overnight before being whole bunch pressed. The juice is transferred to barrel with all the solids, for fermentation with either wild or selected yeasts. French oak selection is focused on enhancing the fruit personalities of each plot, with 35% of the barriques being new. The wine was left un-sulphured for a few weeks post-ferment and matured on lees for ten months, with a stirring regime monitored by tasting to build texture and refine structure. The final wine, blended in December 2022, showcases the unique taste, characteristics and clonal diversity of each site.
