.Thistledown Great Escape Chardonnay

The Great Escape is our benchmark, cool climate Chardonnay produced from fruit grown in elevated vineyard sites which allow for a long ripening period which helps to maintain the natural sugar and acid balance of the grape. With moderate alcohol, focussed, crisp citrus fruit and a mouthwatering finish, this is an accomplished, truly modern style of this noble variety.

Vintage Conditions

Another dry season, no doubt influenced by El Niño, saw McLaren Vale and the Barossa have a very early, condensed harvest but up in the Hills, it was almost the perfect season. Much improved fruit set led to a healthy crop load wth even bunches that ripened gradually through February’s perfect conditions. Looking to retain natural acidity and energy in the wine, we hand-picked in two vineyards over the course of 10 days with the end result being some of the most pristine fruit we have witnessed.

Winemaking

As with all of our wines, the winemaking process is a gentle one with the intention of preserving the natural flavours of the wine while at the same time building layers of texture.

Fruit is picked in the cool of the early morning and goes directly to press where the free run juice is run off to tank to settle. We retain a relatively high level of solids in the ferment – half of which is done in tank with regular movement of lees and half is done in used French hogsheads with regular “battonage” of the lees to build flavour and texture. We do not encourage malolactic as we want to pre

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.Thistledown Great Escape Chardonnay – a great example of this truly wonderful Aussie varietal