Chardonnay “Piccadilly” Adelaide Hills 2021 – Grosset

To produce the Chardonnay “Piccadilly” Adelaide Hills Grosset all grapes were hand picked, crushed and destemmed. Only free run juice was used, which was chilled to 0°C for five days and then racked prior to fermentation. The wine was barrel fermented in French oak barrique (40% new) for 10 months, with partial malolactic conversion also taking place during this time.

The vineyards are situated in the Piccadilly Valley of the Adelaide Hills, a very cool sub-region. Given that the replanting of vineyards in the Adelaide Hills has only occurred since the early 1980s, their full potential is only just emerging. The south-facing site has predominantly mottled, coarse-grained yellow clays and quartz-rich soil over sandstone.

For almost four decades, the Grosset ‘Springvale’ and ‘Polish Hill’ Rieslings have shown a consistency of style and quality that has made this one of Australia’s greatest wineries. The ‘hard rock’ blue slate of the Polish Hill site results in wines that are steely and magnificently ageworthy, while the red loam of the Springvale vineyard gives more open and easily accessible – though no less complex – wines. Such is Jeffrey Grosset’s attention to detail that he noted a small strip (22 metres wide by 300 metres long) in his Rockwood vineyard that produced more generously flavoured wines due to a different soil. Jeffrey is fanatical about the quality of his vineyards, which are certified organic and are hand tended, with a focus on sustainability to offset climate change. In the winery, each process is gentle and uncomplicated. No fining agents are used and sulphur is the only addition. By combining a disciplined approach and decades of experience, Grosset consistently achieves the purest expression of variety and place.