2018 Fighting Gully Road Smith's Vineyard Chardonnay

Aromas of white nectarine, grapefruit, roasted hazelnut, and gunflint lead into a focused, medium-bodied palate. Flavors of white peach, lemon pith, and subtle brioche mesh with an underlying stony minerality. The texture is satiny and broad, balanced by firm natural acidity and a long, savory finish.

Farmed using low-input, sustainable methods with permanent undervine cover crops and extensive manual labor, including hand-pruning and shoot thinning. Hand-harvested whole clusters are chilled overnight and pressed to French oak hogsheads (one-third new). Fermentation occurs via a combination of wild and cultured yeasts. Malolactic fermentation is blocked to retain acid drive, followed by 10 months of barrel aging.

Grapes come entirely from the historic Smith's Vineyard, planted in 1978 as the oldest surviving vineyard site in Victoria’s high-altitude Beechworth region. Situated at roughly 550 meters elevation, the mature, dry-farmed vines grow in ancient Ordovician mudstone soils on a wind-exposed slope.