Toolangi Vineyard F Block Chardonnay 2023

White wax cap over DIAM cork. Toolangi’s F Block is a one-acre plot perched on the highest, easternmost sector of the 11-hectare Dixon’s Creek vineyard. Nestled in the corner, within touching distance of the Toolangi State Forest to the northeast and in the afternoon shadow of a large hill to the south, it’s a well-sheltered plot. This position helps preserve the high levels of natural acidity critical to maintaining balance from a site famed for powerful flavour. The soils are shallow and rocky, with more white clay than lower down, which Kaspar Hermann credits with the wine’s sculpted, chalky personality. Yields are always low, rarely providing more than seven or eight barrels, and in this poor flowering year, Hermann had enough for just five. The 21-year-old vines are Gingin clone and produce thick-skinned, full-throated fruit with plenty of spicy nuance and phenolic structure.

F Block Chardonnay is Hermann’s favourite wine to make; he even prunes the block himself. 2023’s wet spring provided challenges, but the team’s determination paid off with ripe, vibrant fruit from a mild, kind harvest period. The bunches were pressed to barrique (20%) for spontaneous fermentation with full solids, the wine underwent full malolactic conversion and matured on lees in barrel with no sulphur added until bottling. 2023 is a beautifully tense, energetic rendition of this wine that doesn’t want for flavour. Flecked with grapefruit and barrel spice, it is seamless, effortless and compellingly driven Yarra Chardonnay.