This is Place of Changing Winds' first, tiny Chardonnay release. It comes from a parcel of vines with a density of 12,000/ha. In 2019, 4,400 Chardonnay vines were harvested to get only 900kg of fruit. The fruit was whole-bunch pressed, hard and fast, and sent to barrel with all solids. Fermentation was in new wood—a single 300-litre Stockinger barrel and one 228-litre Dominique Laurent barrel—and then the wine was transferred to an older, neutral, 500-litre cask with all lees for aging. Finally, the wine was transferred to tank for a number of months before bottling in June 2020.
Even with these minuscule yields, the wines possesses terrific acidity and excellent pH (3.2 at picking, finishing at 3.35). This wine has gone through 100% malolactic and yet still retains plenty of freshness. It’s intense, floral and tonic. No fining or filtration. Minimal SO2. Bottled by gravity and by hand in June 2020. 887 bottles produced.