Winery & Vintage Info
The five-hectare Short Flat Vineyard is located directly north of the driveway of the Tyrrell’s Pokolbin Estate ‘Ashmans’ at an elevation of about 110 metres. The vineyard is a mosaic of vine ages, with the oldest blocks of Chardonnay dating back to 1968, while the youngest vines were planted in 2001. The Semillon is planted in the middle of the vineyard, where the soils are quite uniform sandy loams, while the Chardonnay is planted more sporadically in sites where the soils best suit the variety. Fruit from the Chardonnay grapes go into our Short Flat 'Old Vines' Chardonnay and flagship Vat 47 Chardonnay. The Short Flat Vineyard also has Shiraz and Pinot Noir varieties planted on the site.
The 2022 vintage, in many ways, was a mirror of 2021. With above average rainfall in the winter months, the vines were set up perfectly for the growing season. Cooler temperatures over the summer period meant that there was no rush to begin harvest and we began about seven to ten days later than normal. All the fruit was in remarkable condition with intense fruit flavours coupled with high natural acidity.
All the fruit was handpicked in between 2 - 12 February. The fruit was immediately basket-pressed, then the juice was then cold settled for two days before being racked to stainless steel tanks to begin fermentation. The fermenting juice was then transferred to French oak barriques to complete fermentation and maturation before bottling in October 2022.
Murray Tyrrell created the Winemaker’s Selection range back in 1965 when, with the assistance of Len Evans, he set out to determine the best wines from each vintage. He named these wines after the casks in which they were matured. In 1974, having discovered that we had up to six casks from the same vineyard block that all tasted much the same, we brought the selection down to about 12 wines in total – a mixture of whites and reds. The early 2000s saw a further consolidation with the inauguration of the Sacred Sites range and the expansion of our Single Vineyard program.
Today, the Winemaker’s Selections are estate-grown on the various blocks that form the wines that we believe best represent our land and house style. These wines are only bottled in years when we believe that the quality is high enough to meet our exacting standards.
