Piano Piano Sophie's Block Chardonnay 2022 (Beechworth)

The famous Beechworth region is known for its iconic wines. Much of this can be attributed to the altitude, granitic soil and climate. The vineyard is located on the Beechworth-Wangaratta Road, at an altitude of 400m. The Chardonnay is planted on the South East facing slope, in deep decomposed granitic top soil over rich clay.

Sophie’s Block is situated on the coolest part of the site. This cooler Mesoclimate enhances the delicate but powerful flavours in the grapes. Given its proximity to some of Beechworth’s finest vineyards, the Chardonnay is already showing the exciting potential of this site. Five different clones, including the Bernard clones have been close planted at 1.2m x 2.4m rows to maximise intensity and complexity.

2022 was a cooler and wetter than average growing season with no extreme heat. The season was an excellent season for the whites with the final two critical ripening months drying out allowing the grapes to ripen disease free. This with consistently warm but not hot weather enabled the grapes to develop lovely full flavours cool climate flavours.

The grapes were hand picked on the 26nd February and 12th March. This wine was made using traditional Burgundian techniques and the grapes were de-stemmed and gently pressed. Wild fermentation occurred with the vineyard’s indigenous yeast in French oak barriques and hogsheads including 22% new oak. There was no malolactic fermentation and limited barrel stirring to maintain the acid drive and structure of the wine.