The Pennant Chardonnay 2020

• 75cl bottle

Gleaming straw-green; a high quality chardonnay that is ageing with grace, still fresh as a daisy with years to go before reaching its zenith. The bouquet is decidedly complex, the palate with grapefruit zest and precise acidity drawing out its length and aftertaste.

Vineyards

A cool Margaret River season delivered excellent grapes, which were hand selected and harvested.

Vintage

The Oatley family’s grape sourcing model of a diverse range of regions across the country has augured well for vintage 2020. Drought and fires combined to see the national grape harvest fall to its lowest level since 2013- 14. Whilst ROV’s production from Mudgee region will be substantially down (possibly nil) and South Australia at around 50%, Western Australia will pick up the ball with reasonable yields of very high quality. Mudgee’s harvest from the family vineyards was looking solid, very good even, until the fires - with many vineyards not harvested and most wines produced affected by smoke taint. In the West, Margaret River and Great Southern delivered very good quality across the board after an unusually early harvest. Chardonnay, Riesling, Aromatic whites, Shiraz and Cabernet are the highlights. In South Australia, quality was good whilst quantity was substantially down. McLaren Vale Grenache and Barossa Shiraz were standouts. We source a lot of fruit from McLaren Vale which was thankfully spared the fires, unlike the Adelaide Hills to the north-east. “2020 will go down as challenging to say the least” says ROV Director of Winemaking, Larry Cherubino however the silver lining is there will be some very smart wines. Look out for our Shiraz from Great Southern, Barossa and McLaren Vale; Cabernet Sauvignon from the West and Margaret River Chardonnay – there will be some stunners!”

Winemaking

Chilled, whole bunch pressed into new and one year-old, tight-grained, low-toast French oak, where the juice was allowed to undergo natural yeast ferment followed by months in barrel, without racking or movement, prior to rigorous selection to compile this final blend. Just 7 barrels produced.

Enjoy with:

• Grilled and Roasted White Meats
• Fish/Shellfish
• Pizza/Pasta

Try with honey and mustard pork chops