This is the fifteenth release of the Sauvignon Blanc from the close-spaced Crayères Vineyard. This vintage, the wine was fermented partly in stainless steel and partly in larger old oak barrels. The Crayères Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc has not been through malolactic fermentation and the different components were blended late December 2023 before being bottled late-January 2024 following a light filtration.

The 2023 vintage is a very sharp example of Sauvignon Blanc, with stone fruit and citrus characters and great persistence of flavours. It will benefit from bottle ageing, gaining some complexity with age.

The Crayères vineyard is located at the top of a north-south limestone ridge in Wrattonbully, one of Australia’s most exciting regions. This vineyard has been baptised the Crayères Vineyard after the chalk cellars in Xavier’s region of birth in Champagne, France because of the natural limestone caves found underneath the vineyard. The clay rich Terra Rossa top-soil, characteristic of the area, promotes nutrient uptake while the underlying limestone is a reserve of moisture for the vines. The Sauvignon Blanc was planted on rootstocks in 2004 using the F4V6 and H5V10 “Australian” clones on 101-14 rootstocks, at a relatively high density for the area (4,444 vines per hectare with 1.5m wide rows), which means more km2 of canopy per hectare, and better fruit exposure.The fruiting wire is only 50cm above ground which provides extra ripeness for the vines in this cool climate region. The fruit from the western part of the vineyard is retained for our Crayères Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc.

Alc/Vol: 13.5%