Eastern Peake - 2023 Intrinsic Chardonnay

Every year its such a pleasure to release the Intrinsic Chardonnay, like its predecessor, 2023 was also a very demanding growing season, we managed to keep on top of the challenging weather at each growth stage all the way up until nearly christmas when the weather finally settled into gear giving our site a beautiful finish,  so many hours were spent keep the vines in pristine condition & I feel like this attention to detail strongly reflects in the wine. This is definitely one for enjoying right now but also one for the ages, a long youthful life ahead. - Owen Latta, Winemaker. 

Nourished volcanic grey loam soils over weathered basalt sit on a high plateau at 430m altitude, this block of chardonnay was established in 1991 with Clone I10V5. Farmed with strict organic practices using a mix of regenerative cover crops increasing soil health & productivity in the vineyard, its been an absolute delight seeing the site react to all the thoughtful inputs, walking through the rows & feeling like the soil is alive with energy under foot transcending directly into each vine & the surrounds.

Harvested 6/4/23, whole bunch pressed, fermented with our naturally occurring indigenous yeasts in 300L hogs heads using a mix Siruge (French) & Stockinger (Austrian) cooperages, during élevage there is absolutely no racking, left on full solids with no interference with the lees, the wine always goes through full malolactic fermentation on its own, a small amount of sulphur post malo, racked from barrel to stainless tank where its left to rest for another full winter to gain complexity & naturally settle prior to bottling, no fining or filtering.

Our new chardonnay plantings across the domaine (clones Bernard 76 & some Penfolds 58) have been thriving over this growing season, with warmer than average temperatures. It’s quite amazing to see these new vineyard blocks taking shape on the estate after all these years, hopefully next year we might see our first crop.

-Owen Latta, Winemaker