OUR WINE

Salo Yarra Valley Chardonnay

2022 SALO CHARDONNAY

 

What better way to celebrate our 15th year of making Salo than to release the belter that is the 2022 vintage!

 

Crazy to think how that time has flown, many things have changed, but our love of fine Chardonnay from the beautiful Upper Yarra Valley has been a constant.

 

It is also our tenth year working with Simon Harte at the Full Moon Vineyard high up in the Southern Hills. He meticulously tends the old vines here, grown on red and brown coloured volcanic soils in Gladysdale. Every year he rolls with the seasons and delivers incredible fruit for us.

 

Phillip Rich from the Halliday Wine Companion had this to say of the 2022.

 

“At Salo Dave Mackintosh and Steve Flamsteed only make one Yarra Valley wine and the 2022 is another ripper. From a low-yielding vintage, this is slightly more powerful than the 2021 and here you’ll find aromas of white nectarines, lemon oil and spice with some marine scents. Intense and richly textured on the palate and balanced by the wine’s vibrant acidity and a touch of grip on the finish. By the time this is released in August 2023, this should be singing.”

 

96 Points

 

Vintage

A cold and wet Spring once again played havoc with our flowering and fruit set. This resulted in the vines yielding about half of what was expected.

However, we were lucky, for the 3rd year in a row, to have a mild growing season that produced healthy canopies and strong vines that ripened the fruit slowly and evenly.

This slow yet even ripening allowed the grapes to produce ideal fresh flavours and hold onto acids.

The resulting wines are chalky, complex, and crunchy.

A very strong vintage that should age as well as any we have produced.

 

Winemaking

Hand Picked fruit was chilled in the cold room overnight and then whole bunch pressed to a small tank high in the winery. The tank is then rummaged and run to 500 Litre (all second and third use) puncheons by gravity with full juice solids.

Wild fermentation finished in late April and the wine was lightly sulphured a few months later. Post ferment this wine looked incredibly balanced in terms of mid-palate weight and acid so no malolactic fermentation was undertaken.

No stirring, unfined and bottled unfiltered. 

 

Just 244 dozen produced.