Chardonnay 2016
Tasting Notes
The Bosworth Chardonnay is complex and delicious, full of flavour, yet delicate. We are not afraid of flavour here at Battle of Bosworth. There is a hint of nut, stone fruit and some underlying citrus characters on both nose and palate. Medium-bodied, full flavoured and quite delightful.
Vintage
We had a very dry spring leading up to vintage 2016 and it was windy, too. We expect these kinds of windy conditions in Willunga, but this was pretty intense. October and December were both pretty warm, whereas November was mild. Very healthy crops were recorded across all varieties in McLaren Vale. We had a huge downpour at the end of January a few days before the whites were due to be picked; this kind of weather event tends to give Joch a sense of tightening around the left chest area, neck and sometimes down the arm. However this 50mm downpour succeeded in refreshing the vines, giving us a few more days before picking and bringing the lawns back from the brink. February was mild with cool nights and March provided pretty good picking conditions, give or take a few warm days.
Winemaking
The Bosworth Chardonnay gets special wine-making treatment; it is picked and then pressed straight to expensive French barrels (hogsheads – 300 litres). The wine goes through a natural ferment once in barrel which means it relies on the natural yeasts from the vineyard to begin fermentation. Once through ferment the wine stays in barrel on what are known as high solids (‘sur lie’). The wine is then racked and put to bottle and allowed to rest before release.
Other Vintages
Technical Details
Vineyards: Denton's and Chanticleer
Picking Date: 5th February 2016
Alc/Vol: 13.0%
Bottling Date: 26th September 2016