2023 Little Reddie Leanganook Chardonnay
WINEMAKER: Pat Underwood
REGION: Bendigo, VIC
VARIETY: Chardonnay
VITICULTURE: Organic/Sustainable
A lovely clean and crisp white from the mountain granite. Pale straw colour with flecks of green. Gravelly, mineral aromatics with some pear, chamomile, and orange blossom. Light and refreshing on the palate, with notes of quince, lemon juice, quinine and grilled peach. Texturally very easy, with a satisfying subtle grip. A dry and refreshing style, perfect before and during dinner.
The fruit is sourced from two sites on the western slopes of Leanganook (Mount Alexander). The Dash Farms site is planted on the southern ridge, sits at 475 metres elevation and has a north-south row orientation. The other source, the Igneous Vineyard, lies 2.5 kilometres to the northwest and sits at 430 metres elevation with an east-west row orientation. Both sites are on quartz and feldspar sand or decomposed granite, and were planted in the 1990s to the I clones.
A love of coffee led me to wine. In 2011 while working behind the bar in Castlemaine, my colleague and friend Jarad Curwood (Chapter Wine) nurtured the coffee, beer and then wine passion. Jarad allowed me to pick some grapes from the vineyard he farmed. I fermented this fruit, 2012 Metcalfe Shiraz, in my dad’s backyard. It was a rustic wine and caught the name Little Reddie, owing to the miniature barrel (resized to hold the miniature volume), and as an ode to the drought hardy, introduced fish we were catching in the local waters.
Since then I have studied in my own way. I worked for several years at City Wine Shop on Spring St, being educated thoughtfully by brilliant mentors. Victorian harvest experiences at Bannockburn (2013) and Gembrook Hill (2014) were extremely inspiring and nurturing.
I travelled well through Chianti, the Mosel, Burgundy and the Northern Rhone in 2013 following up with three harvests 2016 - 2018 with Olek Bondonio in Barbaresco. Olek and Ali welcomed me into their family. I will never be far from a return to them. Nebbiolo remains, perhaps, my deepest vinous love.