Why you'll love this wine
The Deep Woods Single Vineyard Chardonnay is one of the most sought-after Chardonnay wines in Margaret River. Produced in extremely limited quantities from a small, single vineyard in Karridale, this well-known wine usually sells out within a few months of release.
Bursting with juicy citrus, savoury fennel and rich, decadent pie crust this is a Margaret River Chardonnay that you are unlikely to forget. As Erin Larkin of the Halliday Wine Companion said, "this provides a startlingly clear view of the 'other' style of chardonnay that Margaret River does so well."
Tasting Notes
colour
Pale gold with a light green rim.
aroma
This wine brims with delicious, nutty pastry crust aromas which mingle with lifted white peach and orange blossom perfume.
palate
This is a textural wine with a vibrant, linear acidity. Juicy lemon and lime citrus fruit, fennel frond and savoury oak-driven complexities create an elegant, yet energetic wine with a long, tangy finish.
cellaring
This wine may be enjoyed on release but will reward careful cellaring for three to six years.
Technical
vintage
2022 was a truly exceptional vintage in Margaret River. The season started beautifully with a wet spring and late flowering, followed by a warm and dry season, producing wines with refined flavour, elegance and real personality.
Crucially, the Chardonnay ripened relatively slowly with great fruit weight, ripe stone fruit characters and of course a dash of Deep Woods Estate’s flint and funk on the nose! The picking window for Chardonnay was tight, with the majority of our best vineyards picked within a two-week time frame.
winemaking
Fruit was hand-picked from a small vineyard site in Karridale and left overnight in a cool room. The following day the fruit was whole bunch pressed on a long, gentle cycle to avoid unwanted phenolics. The juice was then racked straight to oak hogshead and puncheons for wild fermentation. The oak regime used was 30% new. This wine did not undergo malolactic fermentation and bâttonage was only used when necessary.
region
Margaret River
variety
Chardonnay
analysis
- Alcohol: 13.0%
- pH: 3.04
- Acidity (TA): 6.16 g/L
Food Pairings
Crispy skin pork belly with polenta and Asian slaw, coriander and chilli.
Awards
National Wine Show of Australia 2024
Perth Royal Wine Awards 2023
James Halliday Australian Chardonnay & Cabernet Challenge 2023
Margaret River Wine Show 2023
Sydney Royal Wine Show 2023
Royal Hobart Wine Show 2023
Reviews
Angus Hughson, Margaret River Wine Guide 2024
Intense grapefruit, nectarine, flinty aromas and flavours. Classical Margaret River Chardonnay with abundant grapefruit, stone fruit flavours, fine chalky textures, superb mid palate richness, some now oak nuances and well-integrated quartz-like acidity. Al dente at the finish wth persistant flinty notes. Very much in the zeitgeist.
96
James Suckling, 2023
This is perfumed, offering notes of white peaches, sliced lemons, lily flowers, white almonds, crushed stones and lemon custard. Medium- to full-bodied, with silky, seamless texture and refreshing mineral backbone. Hints of spicy lemons and sea salt. Bright, citrusy and full of life. Lingering and textural.
95
Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, August 2024
Karridale Chardonnay, and I reckon 2022 was a very good year for Chardonnay down south.
This has a cool bright character, but it delivers a good amount of Chardonnay flavour too. Lime and grapefruit, white nectarine, flowers and basil, a little cinnamon pastry richness. It has some gloss, but also fine flinty texture, cashew and lime, a slight parmesan rind savoury thing, with a tight and juicy finish of excellent length. It’s all just so, and so very nice to drink.
95
Halliday Wine Companion 2024
There’s always an intensity of fruit flavour but not at the expense of complexity or, in this instance, lots of savoury inputs. Flinty and a little funky with fennel and radish, and yes, stone fruit and citrus in the mix. It is chardonnay, after all. A neat layer of nutty lees, creamy, too, spicy, cedary oak neatly tucked in and the fine acid line that ties everything up ever so neatly.
95
Ray Jordan Wine Guide 2024
An outstanding Margaret River Chardonnay. On the nose it strikes immediately with floral notes mingling with a flinty lemony brioche combination. Stone fruit characters of nectarine and white peach release on the palate with a subtle minerally oyster shell sea spray edge. Lightly charry oak on the finish contributes to a very good Chardonnay.
95
