Wine Specs
Appellation
Golden Mile Bench
Harvest Date
September 10, 2021
Bottling Date
August 3, 2022
2021 Chardonnay
Wine Profile
Tasting Notes
This radiant vintage shows pristine fruit flavours and aromatics with notes of toast and hazelnut. The palate
follows with fresh citrus, juicy peach and honeycomb flavours along with mineral undertones. An intricate
Chardonnay of length, breadth and tremendous beauty, pair with BC halibut, sole or a classic linguine vongole!
Vineyard Notes
The 2021 growing season in the South Okanagan was one for the history books as the driest on record, due
in large part to the “Heat Dome” and its record breaking high temperatures. It was also one of the warmest
years, seeing the most growing degree days GDD (1758) since 2015. Following flowering, we experienced
an extremely dry and hot June during fruit set. The heat led to a lighter fruit set and smaller berry size than
usual. While there was less fruit per vine and the yield was light in volume, on the upside the smaller berries
in the clusters resulted in more concentrated flavours and colours on the red varietals. Similarly, for the white
varietals there are intense flavours and vibrant aromatics. With the warm dry season, the grapes reached
phenolic ripeness earlier than usual with harvest commencing and finishing early. We began picking the
whites on August 27th for our Ti Amo (Prosecco-style sparkling wine). We started picking our first reds in midSeptember with our Block 10 Merlot on September 14th at our historic Golden Mile Bench estate vineyard.
We finished our last estate reds pick with Cabernet Sauvignon from Block 8 of our Golden Mile Bench vineyard
on October 28, 2021. Overall, the 2021 harvest produced wines of outstanding quality and varietal character.
We expect to see some intense, fruit driven wines, with excellent depth of flavour.
Winemaker Notes
Crafted with handpicked Chardonnay from Block 17 of our Golden Mile Bench Estate, the fruit was all hand
sorted and whole cluster pressed to maximize juice quality and cold settled for 6 days. The resulting clean
juice was racked and underwent initial fermentation for 20 days and then encouraged through malolactic
fermentation. Weekly battonage provided the desired hint of creaminess and round mouthfeel that the stirring
of the lees imparts. This vintage was 62% barrel fermented (35 percent new French oak) and 38% fermented
in stainless steel. Our winemaker also introduced 500 liter French oak puncheons for the first time with this
harvest. The large vessels offer superior oak integration that is more subtle and focused. The wine was aged
10 months on fine lees before blending and bottling. A wonderfully balanced Chardonnay with a creamy
texture sliced by mouthwatering acidity.
Other Notes
Gold Medal ~ 2023 WineAlign, National Wine Awards of Canada, Double Gold Medal ~ Platinum Awards by Great Northwest Wine.
Product Reviews
Based on your shopping cart here are some suggestions!