Tasting Profile
June 2021
This single-block wine is sourced from just 0.5 ha of 23-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 fruit was gently whole-bunch pressed directly into French oak barriques (16% of which were new), and fermentation occurred spontaneously with ambient yeasts. Following fermentation, the wine was aged on lees (without battonage) for 11 months and was racked only once, directly prior to bottling. The wine was bottled without fining and with minimal filtration.
Complex and engaging, 2019 Faultline delivers an assortment of enticing aromas – cashew, nougat, a whiff of gun smoke, fleshy orange stonefruits, juicy white pear and lemon zest.
The palate opens with a fleshy and persistent weight that is balanced by a fine line of acid that tightens towards a long, resounding saline conclusion. Flavours of peach and nectarine dominate, underpinned by bright citrus zest.
While the wine can be enjoyed now, it will benefit from time in the cellar to reach its full potential.
13%
Tasting Profile 2019
Tasting Profile 2018
Tasting Profile 2016
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.