Thistledown - Great Escape - Chardonnay | Australian White Wine

Great Escape is our benchmark, cool climate Chardonnay produced from fruit grown in elevated vineyard sites which allow for a long ripening period which helps to maintain the natural sugar and acid balance of the grape. With moderate alcohol, focused, crisp citrus fruit and a mouthwatering finish, this is an accomplished, truly modern style of this noble variety.

VITICULTURE:
Sourced from 3 vineyard sites. One in Gumeracha and two in the revered Lenswood sub-region. All are on elevated sites between 300 and 450m. A good portion of the Great Escape always comes from our favourite vineyard which also produces our top chardonnay, Suilven. This close planted vineyard creates better shaded fruit and, along with low yields, produces wines of tight structure and immense intensity.

WINEMAKING:
As with all our wines, the winemaking process is a gentle one with the intention of preserving the natural flavours of the wine while at the same time building layers of texture. Fruit is picked in the cool of the early morning and goes directly to press where the free run juice is run off to tank to settle. We retain a relatively high level of solids in the ferment- half of which is done in tank with regular movement of lees and half is done in used French hogsheads with regular "battonage" of the lees to build flavour and texture. We do not encourage malolactic as we want to preserve the crisp, citrus fruit profile. The wine spends 10 months in older French oak.