There are a number of key characteristics that define the Howard Park Chardonnay line; fresh, lively citric and mineral aromas and flavours, elegant, refined and tight palate structure, and zesty, racy acidity. The wine is, in essence, a product of the fruit.
The fruit for the 2006 Howard Park Chardonnay is from a select group of vineyards in the far south of Western Australia. Grape ripening across the entire south west of WA was defined and affected by the extraordinary weather of late spring in 2005 with all early stages such as flowering and fruit set delayed by, in many cases, up to 4 weeks. The cool and intermittingly wet summer has not allowed the vines to catch up to any extent with ripening being later than ever experienced before. The cool and mild conditions produced tighter and more elegant chardonnay than we have experienced for many years. We are looking forward to bottle aging the 2006 Howard Park for several years.
The fruit was hand picked thus allowing positive bunch selection and avoiding the pick up of bitter phenolic characters from skin contact. The fruit was gently crushed and immediately pressed. Only free run juice is use in this wine as this is the most elegant and clean juice possible. The juice is seeded for fermentation and then pumped to a mixture of new (60%) and one and two year old (40%) French oak barrels. The wine does not undergo malolactic fermentation thus avoiding the excessive buttery phenomenon that causes advanced development of so many Chardonnay wines. A small number of barrels are stirred every week to allow the development of complex characters and palate weight.
