The tranquil pasturelands of Gippsland share an affinity for Chardonnay with the timeless terroirs of
La Bourgogne. Bass Phillip pioneered viticulture here, introducing the noblest of white grape in the 1980s. Phillip Jones maintains strictly controlled yields on his fastidiously husbanded Leongatha property, a costly regimen of pruning which permits less than a tonne and a half of fruit to the acre. The reward comes in the form of a buttery
Montrachet style, brimming with grapefruits, bracing with crystal minerality and framed by a veneer of polished golden oak.
Renowned for its auspicious beef grazing and dairy farming, Gippsland was established to viticulture in 1979 when Phillip Jones planted his first vines on the Bass Phillip property at Leongatha. A confluence of deep mineral rich soils, cooler climes with higher humidity, deliver harvests of Chardonnay with intensely complex flavours, firm natural acidity and refined minerality. Fruit is all hand picked and treated to an extravagant regimen of Burgundian vinification techniques, lees stirring battonage and extended maturations in French coopered oak.
TASTING NOTESStraw yellow hues. Floral bouquet, melons and citrus, nutty cashew characters, hawthorn and lemon notes. Soft textures, persistent lemon citrus and tropical flavours, a palate of sound structure, refined minerality and fruity acidity, supported by a length of newly planed, savoury oak. A Chardonnay of attractive ripeness and underlying richness.