2022 Fighting Gully Road Smith Vineyard Chardonnay

Highly Rated
The bold and the beautiful personified in this classy single vineyard Chardonnay from Beechworth.

Price:
Sale price$85.00
Stock:
Re-stocking, ships in 2-5 business days
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Description

Planted in 1978, the Smith Vineyard is one of Beechworth’s oldest Chardonnay sites, now in the meticulous hands of Mark Walpole. It’s no surprise, then, that this release has landed among the highest-rated Beechworth Chardonnays ever on The Wine Front, putting it in elite company alongside the likes of Giaconda and Sorrenberg.

This is serious stuff - intensely concentrated yet beautifully poised. White peach and pink grapefruit meet almond meal, biscuit spice, and a flicker of struck match. There’s power, but it’s the precision that really stuns: fine chalky grip, rippling acidity, and a finish that lingers with ripe lime juice and spice.

If you love Beechworth Chardonnay at its peak, this is one for the cellar. A new benchmark from one of the region’s great sites.

97 points
"This enters the pantheon of high scoring Beechworth Chardonnay on TWF as per the list HERE. This is a powerful wine, though what I like most about it, is that it does not come at the expense of charm and drinking appeal. White peach, almond meal, pink grapefruit, biscuit spices, a little struck match adds complexity, and there’s fennel and floral perfume too. It offers fine chalky grip, a burst of grapefruit acidity through white stone fruits, and the finish is all ripe lime juice, spicy, perfumed and offers superb length. A complete wine. Beautiful."
- Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)

97 points - "This enters the pantheon of high scoring Beechworth Chardonnay on TWF as per the list HERE.

This is a powerful wine, though what I like most about it, is that it does not come at the expense of charm and drinking appeal. White peach, almond meal, pink grapefruit, biscuit spices, a little struck match adds complexity, and there’s fennel and floral perfume too. It offers fine chalky grip, a burst of grapefruit acidity through white stone fruits, and the finish is all ripe lime juice, spicy, perfumed and offers superb length. A complete wine. Beautiful." - Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)

The Wine
• Palate: Textural and medium weight, supported by delicate oak providing length and persistence.
• Bouquet: White stone fruit and white flowers prevail, with a hint of underlying spicy oak.

Technical Details
• Harvest Dates: 8th – 20th March 2022
• pH: 3.46
• TA: 8.8
• Alcohol by Volume: 13.5%
• Oak Maturation: 12 months in new (1/3) and seasoned (2nd and 3rd use) fine-grained, Italian-coopered French oak hogsheads.
• Vigneron: Mark Walpole

The Vintage
The 2022 vintage was a cooler and damp growing season. Regular rainfall throughout the 2021/22 season kept temperatures mild. Prevailing east and northeast winds provided higher humidity, preserving aromatics and contributing to finer phenolics than usual in wines from the Fighting Gully Road vineyard.

The Vinification
Grapes were hand-picked and chilled overnight before whole bunch pressing, with no pressings cut. The juice and light solids were racked into very fine-grained Gamba 300L Troncais MT barrels (1/3 new), with the balance in 2nd and 3rd use barrels. Fermentation occurred at 20–22°C using a mixture of cultured and indigenous yeasts. After primary fermentation, the wine was sulphured before malolactic fermentation.

The Inspiration
Sourced from the ‘Smith’ vineyard, the oldest vines in the Beechworth region, planted in 1978. The early single vineyard wines, made by Brown Brothers, displayed terrific palate weight, elegance, and delicacy. This legacy continues, with fruit developing greater complexity, power, and structure year after year.

Price Bracket $51 to $100
Type White
Body Full Bodied
Variety Chardonnay
Country Australia
Region Beechworth
Australian State VIC
Feature High Score
Reviewed By The Wine Front
Critic Score 97
Alcohol 13%
Size 750ml
Vintage 2022
Closure Screw Cap

Fighting Gully Road

Fighting Gully Road is a boutique wine outfit from Beechworth.

It combines the considerable viticultural knowledge of Mark Walpole, one of Victoria's most respected grape growers, with the impressive winemaking nous of Adrian Rodda, one of Beechworth's most accomplished younger generation talents.

The wines are made in a traditional style, Mark's immaculately grown fruit making wines that are great to drink in an array of styles.

Everything from Sangiovese to Shiraz is in this delicious and good value range.

Legendary viticulturist, Mark Walpole Fighting Gully Road

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