Rochford Wines

Rochford Macedon Ranges Chardonnay

Vintage
2004

Varieties
100% Chardonnay

Tasting Notes
Brilliant light straw with a green edge. The nose shows classic cool climate chardonnay perfume combined with citrus and melon overlayed with nutty oak. The palate is tightly structured leading to a long rich finish. Barrel fermentation and maturation complements the fruit structure and adds depth and complexity to this wine. As there is no malo lactic fermentation there is plenty of acidity to give length and freshness to the finish.

Cellaring
4 to 6 years

Winemaking
The great thing about making wine from fruit grown in a cool region is that the fruit arrives at the winery at a nice low temperature. This naturally low fruit temperature allows us to whole bunch press our chardonnay. This results in very high quality juice with well-defined fruit flavours, low phenolic extraction and very low solids levels. After overnight settling the juice was racked into French oak barriques and a pure yeast culture was added. Following primary fermentation sulphur dioxide was added to the wine to prevent malo lactic fermentation. This is a departure from our standard 100% malo lactic and we feel this will result in a wine with better aging potential. This was followed by 8 months maturation on yeast lees.
The wine was racked from barrel in January and bottled in early March 2005.

Viticultural Notes
The 2003/2004 growing season was warm and very dry. The fruit was hand picked on 7th of May at 12.8 degrees Beaume. The fruit quality was excellent with good flavours and richness.

Technical Data
Alcohol 14.0%
pH 3.30
Titratable acidity 8.2 grams per litre
Residual sugar 0.5 grams per litre

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