Ten Minutes by Tractor Ten X Chardonnay 2018 (Mornington Peninsula)

Ten Minutes by Tractor is the convergence of wine journeys that began almost 40 years ago, a group of individuals and vineyards that fortuitously came together over time to create the winery that exists today.

The winery started in 1997 with three family owned vineyards in Main Ridge, all ten minutes by tractor apart. Since then we have added new vineyards, but all have their own unique character with different aspects, slopes, soils, altitude and winds which flow through the valleys up from Bass Strait. Cool places. Beautiful places. Places that are defined by the wines we make and which can seem like worlds apart.

Heavier than normal winter rains and cooler temperatures delayed budburst (our second latest) but warmer spring weather resulted in perfect conditions for flowering leading to very good fruit set and promising high yields. In fact, particularly down the hill, crop adjustment was required to ensure even maturity and high quality outcomes. Grapes matured with optimum sugar, flavour and tannin development resulting in high quality parcels from all sites. It was our third earliest harvest, leading to our shortest ever hang time (budburst-harvest 179 days against an average of 203 days).

The fruit for the 10 X Ten Minutes by Tractor 2018 Chardonnay were hand-harvested from late February to mid March, whole bunch pressed and the unsettled juice fermented by indigenous yeasts in 20% new 228 litre French oak barrels. An 8 month aging in barrel with no bâtonnage to keep wines fresher and more taut. Natural partial (70%) malolactic fermentation before bottling unfined and filtered.