2024 Oakey Creek Vineyard Chardonnay

Our third Chardonnay release from the Oakey Creek Vineyard, following the purchase of this 40Ha property in mid-2021 from the Drayton family. The fruit for this wine is sourced from a small 2.68Ha parcel situated on a gentle south-east facing slope. The vineyard block is located slightly above the Semillon that we have taken from the site over the past three decades, which is all on the alluvial Oakey Creek flats. We still receive many enquiries about our Graveyard Vineyard Chardonnay, which was last made in 2004, so we continue the tradition of a single vineyard, Hunter Valley Chardonnay. 2023 was a much drier year than the previous three across Eastern Australia. Throughout the Hunter, yields across all varieties were lower than average. The preceding three wet winters (2020, 2021, 2022) and a historically dry 2023 winter all took their toll on vine health and yield. Coming into the new year, fruit condition and canopy was excellent, though tracking 14-21 days earlier than last year due to the lighter crop. Early January was incredibly hot and humid. We picked our first Chardonnay on January 12th, 2024, and the last arrived in the winery by January 21st. It was a condensed harvest, and whilst yields were low, the quality was excellent, with good flavour and natural chemistry.