2022 Joshua Cooper 'Dash Farms' Chardonnay - Mt Alexander, CENTRAL VICTORIA. 750ml
Like a Mâcon in the antipodean south, slightly to the north of Macedon Ranges, old mate Josh Cooper has done it again. Fine-boned detailed chardonnay with flavour and power.
Winemaker notes:
Planted 1999 Dash Farms sits perched at over 450m asl on the Southern granitic slopes of Mt Alexander (Leanganook) looking back towards Mt Macedon and the Macedon Ranges. Like Ray-Monde, it sits just outside the Macedon Ranges GI. Ripening for Chardonnay occurs around a week earlier than my family’s vineyard Cobaw Ridge. These lean granite soils and high altitude confer both concentration and freshness at low sugar levels. Once hand harvested with careful sorting in the vineyard, the bunches were partially crushed by foot and very gently pressed. Overnight settling then occurs before transfer to a combination of new Stockinger 300l oak and Burgundian piece for fermentation and lees ageing for 12 months. Followed by four months in stainless steel on fine lees, before racking and bottling, unfined and unfiltered. The only addition to the wine is a small dose of sulphur. Pale, with a green edge Dash Farm offers glass filling aromas of lemon and grapefruit rind, nectarine, jasmine and spice. Flavours with carry through to the medium bodied palate combined with creamy, savoury complexity and a fine acid line.
