Tiers Vineyard 2022

This cuvée comes exclusively from the Tiers Vineyard, in the heart of the Piccadilly Valley, in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia. Planted on the cool, sheltered, north-east-facing slopes of the valley, this high-altitude vineyard benefits from the cooling influence of the Southern Ocean. Its old Chardonnay vines are rooted in red-brown silty clay soils derived from the ancient rocks of the Barossa complex, bringing tension and mineral expression to the wine.

The grapes are harvested by hand, then chilled in crates to 2 °C before gentle whole-bunch pressing in a pneumatic press. The must is then transferred by gravity to French barriques, one third of them new, for a slow two-month fermentation in cool autumn conditions. The wine then rests on full lees in barrel until December, before racking and bottling in January.

This wine reveals notes of ripe nectarine, white peach, grapefruit, lemon, lime, fresh apple, flinty smoke, toasted cashew, nougat, vanilla, brioche biscuit and sweet spices. The palate combines a broad, creamy texture with a very lively, tangy backbone; a fine grapefruit-zest bitterness draws out the long, saline and chalky finish.

Australia began making wine more than two centuries ago. The result is a country rich in old vines, multi-generational winemaking families and a deep-rooted knowledge of and respect for craftsmanship. Add to that a thirst for exploration and innovation, a fearless attitude and a varied portfolio of 65 wine regions across many climates, and you have the makings of an extraordinary wine country like few others. Australia burst onto export markets in the 1980s and has since offered the whole world vibrant, fruity wines of exceptional value. Until the late 1990s and early 2000s, the story of Australian wine was dominated by over-concentrated examples of Shiraz, Grenache and red blends. Between these two extremes lies the diversity of Australia's high-quality and regional wines, which has always existed. Australian viticulture is mainly concentrated along the southern ocean fringe, where conditions are cooler. There are four main wine regions, located around the major cities: Western Australia around Perth, South Australia around Adelaide, Victoria around Melbourne and New South Wales around Sydney. The country is one of the world's largest wine producers and was the 4th largest exporter in the world in 2011. This recent development has made Australia one of the most prominent countries today for the quality of its wines. You can taste Australian wines all over the country. Each Australian region has its own grape varieties. Australian wines are defined by their grape variety, unlike French wines, which are defined by their terroir.