The Wines
Spring Seed Wines are made from grapes lovingly grown in our family's organic vineyard, located in the premium wine region of McLaren Vale, South Australia. The vineyard was established in the early 1970's by Peter and Anthea Bosworth, and is now owned and run by their son Joch, who began the conversion to organic viticulture in 1995. The vines are fully certified 'A' grade organic by Australian Certified Organic, a process that takes four years and involves yearly audits and random sampling of produce.
The Spring Seed Wine labels are unashamedly inspired by vintage flower seed packets created at the turn of the last century. The colour, clarity and beauty of the original seed packets are quite remarkable. We chose three different flower images to adorn each one of our McLaren Vale, simply because they are quite lovely. The Four O'Clock Chardonnay displays the Four O'Clock (Mirabilis jalapa), Gaillardia (Gaillardia pulchella) and the Brachycome (Iberidifolia).
Vintage 2008
Average winter rains were followed by a very cool and dry late January/February, resulting in very healthy vines with big canopies and intensely varietal fruit which held their acidity extraordinarily well.
Winemaking
We picked our Chardonnay six times over a ten day period in order to capture different flavour profiles, and each one of these six batches were handled and fermented separately. One of the batches was handled oxidatively, to add complexity to the finished wine. Post ferment, all of the batches were kept on solids for as long as possible to further increase the complexity of the wine, and to protect the wines against oxidation. This reduces the amount of sulphur required prior to bottling. All batches underwent cool ferments in stainless steel to protect the delicate aromatics of our Chardonnay, and the wines were kept cool following fermentation. None of the batches underwent malolactic fermentation to retain the crisp natural acidity of the wine.
Tasting Note
The Spring Seed Chardonnay has a gorgeous nose of stone fruits (nectarine and white peach) and citrus (lime and pink grapefruit). The flavours from the nose follow right through to the palate, and these make for a clean, fresh wine with wonderful length and persistence. Four O'clock Chardonnay is a versatile wine; ideal as an aperitif, or well suited to many different foods.
Technical Details
| Picking Dates: | 13th, 14th, 17th, 18th, 21st and 22nd Feb 2008 |
| pH: | 3.16 |
| Total Acidity: | 6.67 g/L |
| Alc/Vol: | 13.5%% |
| Bottling Date: | 28th July 2008 |
