Tasting Profile
This single-block wine is sourced from just 0.5 ha of 22-year-old Chardonnay vines within the Faultline block. Compared to the Farrago block the soil contains less ironstone and more deep clay, leading to wines containing an earthy depth and a fuller, richer palate. The grapes were gently whole-bunch pressed directly into French oak barriques (of which 15% were new), where fermentation occurred spontaneously with ambient yeasts. Following fermentation, the wine was aged on lees (without battonage) for 11 months, with the only racking occurring directly prior to bottling. The wine was bottled without fining and with minimal filtration.
With a classic and typical nose, the 2018 Faultline presents aromas of lemon peel, nectarine and honeysuckle. With air, it shows more intriguing notes of fresh cream, candied ginger together with a fleck of flint. More stone fruit characters appear on the long, driven and complex palate. Strong brine and preserved lemon flavours run throughout, together with an attractive mid-palate suppleness. This builds momentum with detail and finishes with fresh acid and clarity. It requires time in the cellar to reach its full potential.
13%
Tasting Profile 2018
Tasting Profile 2016
Tasting Profile 2015
Reviews
JeremyOliver.com, May 2020
Handsomely weighty and fruited, with its typical undercarriage of minerality and brittleness, it reveals a spicy bouquet of grapefruit and lemon, coriander and oregano, plus some tight-knit faintly smoky vanilla oak. It’s unctuous and generous, but delivers genuine length and drive of citrusy fruit backed by creamy, nutty complexity before finishing savoury and almost saline.
94 points
Jeremy Oliver
WineFront, March 2020
This has body and flavour but all is displayed in a searing setting. Melon, citrus, lettuce, honeysuckle, white peach and woodsmoke. Not much oak, just a tickle. Length, yes. Don’t touch this for at least a couple of years.
93 points
Campbell Mattinson
The Vintage
The Vineyard
The Kooyong vineyard is located on the Mornington Peninsula at Tuerong, on Miocene sedimentary soils. Our wines are made from domain grown, handpicked grapes and aim to manifest terroir: the integration of our geology and soils with the macroclimate of our region, the mesoclimates of the various sites within our vineyard and the weather of the annual grape growing season. Our cultural operations in the vineyard and practices in the winery endeavour to articulate these unique characteristics diligently, respectfully and without artifice.