2022 Deep Woods Single Vineyard Chardonnay

2022 was a truly exceptional vintage in Margaret River. The season started beautifully with a wet spring and late flowering, followed by a warm and dry season. Fruit was hand-picked from a small vineyard site in Karridale and left overnight in a cool room before being whole bunch pressed on a long, gentle cycle. The juice was racked straight to oak hogshead and puncheons for wild fermentation. The oak regime used was 30% new. This wine did not undergo malolactic fermentation and bâttonage was only used when necessary

Pale gold in colour with a light green rim. Brimming with grapefruit, white peach, oak nuances and a flinty minerality. The palate is textural with a vibrant, linear acidity. Sliced lemons, almonds, sea salt and nectarine alongside savoury fennel frond and oak-driven complexity. – Deep Woods Estate

Karridale Chardonnay, and I reckon 2022 was a very good year for Chardonnay down south.

This has a cool bright character, but it delivers a good amount of Chardonnay flavour too. Lime and grapefruit, white nectarine, flowers and basil, a little cinnamon pastry richness. It has some gloss, but also fine flinty texture, cashew and lime, a slight parmesan rind savoury thing, with a tight and juicy finish of excellent length. It’s all just so, and so very nice to drink. 95 points. Gary Walsh, The Winefront Aug 2024

This is perfumed, offering notes of white peaches, sliced lemons, lily flowers, white almonds, crushed stones and lemon custard. Medium- to full-bodied, with silky, seamless texture and refreshing mineral backbone. Hints of spicy lemons and sea salt. Bright, citrusy and full of life. Lingering and textural. Drink or hold. Screw cap. 95 points. James Suckling Dec 2023

There’s always an intensity of fruit flavour but not at the expense of complexity or, in this instance, lots of savoury inputs. Flinty and a little funky with fennel and radish, and yes, stone fruit and citrus in the mix. It is chardonnay, after all. A neat layer of nutty lees, creamy, too, spicy, cedary oak neatly tucked in and the fine acid line that ties everything up ever so neatly. 95 points. Jane Faulkner, Wine Companion Aug 2023