Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard 2019 1.5M Chardonnay MAGNUM

In 2019 we celebrated the 40th birthday of the wonderful Old Tiers Vineyard, a truly distinguished site. This wine is from the 2003 re-planting of Dijon clone Chardonnay (clones 76 and 96) on rootstocks and very close spacing (1.5m x 1.5m) across the road from the Old 1979 Chardonnay block in the Tiers vineyard.

The defining moments of the 2019 vintage were at fruit set at the end of November. Cold, windy and wet weather disrupted the flowering process and resulted in a tiny crop, the smallest since 2014. In 2019 vintage, the yield from Tiers Vineyard was 60% of average, a mere 4 tonnes/hectare. 2019, although warmer than average, was a return to more moderate vintage conditions than 2016 or 2018.

The growing season heat summation at the Tiers Vineyard was 1464 °C-days versus the average of 1093°C-days. Growing season rainfall was just 75% of average.

In summary 2019 is a very high quality, warm and dry vintage, honouring the time tested aphorism “the best quality wine is made from a cool climate vineyard in a warm year.”

2019 Tiers 1.5M Chardonnay was hand harvested on the 18th of March at a sugar level of 23.0 Brix, pH 3.1, total acid (cold stable) of 6.3gpl and a high natural malic acid content of 2.83gpl.