Hay Shed Hill|Margaret River|Premium Wines

The Vineyard

The Hay Shed Hill vineyard lies in the heart of the acclaimed Willyabrup triangle in the Margaret River wine region. Hay Shed Hill is a classic site first planted in 1973 during the pioneer days of the local wine industry. Planted with the varieties that have established the reputation of Margaret River as a world class wine producing area the Hay Shed Hill vineyard produces low yields of outstanding fruit from fully mature vines, combined with world best practice winemaking to produce flavoursome wines of great depth that reflect the character and essence of this wonderful site.
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Vintage 2009

2009 was the textbook vintage with even steady ripening allowing each variety to be harvested in an orderly sequence instead of the normal intense rush.

There were some worries early in spring with terrible conditions across Margaret River throughout November, wet, cold and windy but the weather improved and conditions remained ideal for the rest of vintage. In the end the main effect of this poor weather during flowering and fruit set was diabolically low yields in Cabernet Sauvignon in particular and poor yields across all varieties in general.

The growing season was as close to perfect as any farmer has the right to ask for, cool but sunny, no rain to speak of with nice soft breezes to take the edge of the midday sun. The whites are bright and shiny – with lovely cool vintage aromatics; the reds have amazing colour and will, I think, make terrific wines, even though the cost of growing the grapes may exceed the income from wine sales.

Winemaking

Only free run juice from the old vine Gin Gin clone Chardonnay was used in the making of this wine, this component of the juice is the highest in quality with the most intense fruit expression and the lowest in undesirable phenolic skin characters. The clear juice was fermented in French oak barriques; 30% new with the balance being one, tow and three years old. The wine was matured in the same barriques for a further 10 months. No lees stirring or malo lactic fermentation was allowed in order to preserve and highlight the purity of fruit expression. The objective was to make a wine that expressed the character of this superb vineyard in an elegant and restrained style of wine that would be bright, vibrant and fresh in its youth but benefit from medium term cellaring.

Colour

The wine displays fresh green tinges on a pale straw colour.

Nose

The nose exhibits aromas of fresh cut pear and honey dew melon with some zesty citric notes. There are no overt woody or buttery aromas with the primary fruit characters expressed with clarity and definition.

Palate

The palate is fresh and lively with clean crisp acidity complementing the vibrant fruity flavours. The palate has very good extension and ends clean and bright. This is a restrained style of Australian Chardonnay and highlights how far we have come with this style of wine over the last decade.

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