2024 Parley Capitaine Chardonnay

WINEMAKER: Joss, Mel & Sarah
REGION: Adelaide Hills, SA
VARIETAL: Chardonnay
VITICULTURE: Organic

Lemon barley, quince and elderflower on the nose with white peaches, lemon and a saline minerality on the palate. For the lovers of Chablis this Chardonnay is pure and has length that goes on, and on.

Whole Bunch Chardonnay was direct pressed and cold settled before racking off rough lees to stainless steel for primary fermentation. A reductive approach was taken to preserve primary fruit and aid in the development of flint characters. Once the ferment reached 2-baume the wine was gently transferred to seasoned French barriques with some lees stirring during elevage. After 9 months in barrel the wine was racked off lees and let to settle in tank prior to bottling in November 2022. 

To ‘parley’ is to hold a conference with opposing sides to discuss terms. As a team of three we got really good at that. We were all wearing many hats at the start of the 2021 vintage - Mel, a brilliant student was in her third year of Viticulture and Oenology at The University of Adelaide, working for Commune of Buttons, Son of Dot Drinks and a mother to be. Sarah was running The Summertown Aristologist and working with Les Fruits. And Joss, at one point, balancing 4 simultaneous jobs and a vintage at Gentle Folk. 

Needless to say we needed one another to get things done and swift decision making became our forte. Finding time in our already overcomplicated schedules, we made wine and managed to do it with finesse. For the last year we have been continuously bouncing off one another, discussing and seeking solutions to obstacles and finding consonance in our decisions. We suppose in essence, we are one big Parley.