Tasting Notes
An amazing growing season produced a stunning and exceptionally tightly wound debut from Grimsby Hillside Vineyard. Bright lemon curd is balanced perfectly with wet stone, gunflint, and wisps of wintergreen in the background. With more air, green apple, pineapple, crème fraiche, and toasted almond start to appear, with “mountain stream over limestone” never fading. The palate is perfectly balanced with a good weight and structure, immediately washed away with a piercing, laser-like acidity. The finish is exceptionally complex and long, with a slow fade; truly unique!
Winemaker’s Notes
Grimsby Hillside Vineyard is located just 800 metres from Leaning Post but has a terroir all its own. The vineyard, more specifically The Frontier Block, slopes off the escarpment which is perfectly suited to Chardonnay. This, combined with mature vines (18-year-old), create wines of elegance, power, and age-worthiness. The Frontier Block is planted with 2 different Chardonnay clones: Clone 76 & Clone 96.
A cool Spring was followed by a steady and cool growing season with just enough moisture to keep vines happy. Steadily cool weather in Fall allowed the grapes to develop complex aromatics and structure without losing acidity and freshness.
Hand-picked with minimal sorting, the grapes were gently whole-cluster pressed on October 21st, and allowed to naturally settle prior to fermentation. The juice was racked into French oak barriques and 500L puncheon for fermentation by indigenous yeast and malolactic bacteria, then aged in barrel, lees unstirred, for 15 months. After being lightly filtered, the 2019 Grimsby Hillside Chardonnay was bottled on May 13, 2021.
