Vintage Notes
2013 ranks just behind 2010 and 2007 as a warm vintage. The heat summation for 2013 in the Piccadilly Valley was 1317°C days against the long-term average of 1172°C days.
2013 was not a vintage of temperature extremes despite being warm by average. There were very few hot days and no extended heat waves. 2013 was also a very dry vintage, the Piccadilly Valley receiving just 50.5% of average growing season rain.
Tapanappa 2013 Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay was made entirely from The Tiers younger (10 years old) very close spaced Dijon clone vines on rootstocks. Harvest was 2 weeks early, on the 14th of March.
Winemaking Notes
Hand harvested 1.5 meter spaced Tiers Chardonnay grapes were de-stemmed, crushed and chilled to the air bag press. The 2°C free-run juice combined with the light pressings was settled for 48 hours then racked and gravitated to French Vosges oak barriques (30% new) for fermentation in a cool cellar.
As soon as the primary fermentation was finished, a light dose of sulphur dioxide was added, the barriques were topped and the wine was left to mature on full lees for 10 months. 2013 Tapanappa Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay did not undergo malo-lactic fermentation.
The wine was bottled on the 19th of February 2014. The in-bottle analysis is:
| Alcohol | 13.5% |
| pH | 2.9 |
| Total Acid | 8.29 gpl |
| Sugar | 2.66 gpl |
| Volatile Acidity | 0.47 gpl |
The Taste of the Wine
2013 Tapanappa Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay is the product of a warm and dry vintage. The flavours are of fully ripe Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay, all peaches and melon and the significant natural acid is poised against these ripe flavours.
2013 vintage in the Piccadilly Valley was an excellent vintage and the 2103 Tapanappa Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay is “a pure expression of the unique Piccadilly Valley terroir.”
