The Tiers Vineyard in the heart of the Piccadilly Valley experienced one of the wettest winters in 2016, before experiencing a cool dry spring which delayed flowering by a couple of weeks. This was followed by warm summer which accounted for a warmer than average growing season.

The perfectly ripe fruit was hand-picked on the 12th of April, a full month later than the 2016 vintage. The pristine fruit was transported to our winery near Woodside, where it was destemmed, crushed, chilled and the juice separated in air bag tank presses to a stainless steel tank. The free run juice was then cold settled for a few days before being inoculated with our chosen yeast strain to conduct the primary (alcoholic) fermentation. The seeded juice was transferred into new French oak barriques (225 litres), mostly from our long favoured cooper, Dargaud et Jaegle, with contributions from two other French coopers, Francois Freres and Sirugue.

The 2017 Petaluma Tiers Chardonnay continues the tradition and shows the provenance of the vineyard, the lowest and warmest in the Piccadilly Valley, first planted in 1979. Full and rich, cinnamon and almond complement nectarine and white peach and a touch of flintiness on the nose. A creamy, nutty finish is backed up by multi layered fruit on the palate with lemon and lime framing the finish.

A wine that is approachable in its youth, the 2017 Petaluma Tiers Chardonnay will age gracefully under screwcap for many years.