2023 Terre à Terre Crayères Vineyard Reserve Fumé Blanc
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This is the first release of our Fumé Blanc from our close-spaced Crayères Vineyard.
We retained the fruit from the warmer western part of the vineyard to be hand-picked, whole-bunch pressed, then fermented in larger 600L old oak barrels, called demi-muids. The 2023 vintage was perfect for our Fumé Blanc giving us stone fruit and citrus characters.
The wine was aged in the bottle for 18 months before being released to develop a silky texture, round mouthfeel and persistence of flavours.
Pepper berry, aloe, mangosteen and mock orange blossoms. The tension of fine acidity draws between succulence and a briny salinity.
The Crayères vineyard is located at the top of a north-south limestone ridge in Wrattonbully, one of Australia’s most exciting regions. The clay rich Terra Rossa top-soil, characteristic of the area, promotes nutrient uptake while the underlying limestone is a reserve of moisture for the vines. The Sauvignon Blanc was planted on rootstocks in 2004 using the F4V6 and H5V10 “Australian” clones on 101-14 rootstocks, at a relatively high density for the area (4,444 vines per hectare with 1.5m wide rows), which means more km2 of canopy per hectare, and better fruit exposure. The fruiting wire is only 50cm above ground which provides extra ripeness for the vines in this cool climate region. The Fumé Blanc fruit comes from the Western part of the block.
Read more about the Crayères Vineyard.
- “Balanced and nuanced. Exemplary.” 95 Points – Regan Drew | Vino Notebook
- “A lingering lemongrass, gingery spice quality as it builds to the finish” 93 Points – Jeni Port | Wine Pilot
- “Stunning and sure to give top drawer Pouilly-Fumé a run for its money” 94 Points – Angus Hughson | Wine Pilot
- “A beautifully fine structure with oak seamlessly integrated, underpinning quality fruit” 95 Points – Ray Jordan | Wine Pilot
- “This has been built with strong foundations and proportions to age” 3.5++ Stars – Wine Worth Writing About
- “The beauty of the cool ’23 season shows here… A debut sensation” 96 Points – Shanteh Wale | Halliday Wine Companion