2022 Singlefile 'The Vivienne' Denmark Chardonnay

The 2022 growing season in the Denmark subregion of the Great Southern delivered ideal conditions with good rainfall over winter, while spring was relatively dry and summer slightly cooler than usual. Even temperature days and cold nights helped to retain the natural acidity in the fruit while the slower ripening period allowed for full flavours to develop.

‘The Vivienne’ Chardonnay aims to capture the essence of our Denmark chardonnay vineyard from multiple perspectives. The chardonnay fruit for the 2022 vintage was harvested by hand in three separate picks from mid-March to 1 April 2022, with an average baumé of 12.0 across the three harvests.

Each parcel of fruit was chilled overnight, before whole bunch pressing direct to new and seasoned French barriques, for fermentation on full solids by natural yeasts. The wine was allowed to mature on lees without sulphur for approximately 5 months. The 2022 vintage produced a slightly more restrained style, so we allowed for a little more malolactic fermentation to occur than normal to build mouthfeel and weight. The wine was matured for over 10 months in oak before being prepared for bottling. It was bottled on 28 February 2023 and rested in bottle for at least 24 months to allow for bottle age and secondary characters to start to develop.