Bottled under screwcap. Winner of nine gold medals and a remarkable six wine show trophies, including the Champion Wine of the Show at Brisbane and the trophies for Champion Chardonnay, Champion White Wine and overall Champion Wine of the Show at the 2007 New Zealand Top 100 wine awards. You can imagine how much our NZ friends enjoyed those results! It was made from hand picked and whole bunch pressed grapes, sourced 75% from Hoddles Creek and 25% from Coldstream. The whole bunches were pressed to tank, settled overnight and racked to barrel for fermentation with indigenous yeast. No other additives have been used. A mixture of 225, 300 and 500 litre French barrels were used, approximately 35% new and the wine rested for ten months on fermentation/yeast lees, until blending in January 2007. The show results speak for themselves – this is truly special juice for the money.
"Super-fine and elegant, reflecting the restrained alcohol and use of new French oak; nectarine and strong citrus flavours; long palate.93 Points" James Halliday 2008 Australian Wine Companion
Oakridge is once again family owned and the talented Mr. Bicknell can now get on with doing what he does best - making sensational wines at all price points. Actually, David Bicknell has been producing some seriously good wines at Oakridge for several years - accumulating a staggering 17 trophies and 41 gold medals since he took over as winemaker in 2002. Now, under stable ownership, the wines should receive the attention and support they deserve. And they can only get better. Bicknell’s winemaking philosophy is one that we relate to very well. He rails against the "fruit salad" viticultural approach whereby any number of grape varieties are planted and produced from the one site. Rather, Bicknell makes use of the Yarra Valley’s many micro climates and sources fruit only from the most suitable vineyards for each variety. Chardonnay and Pinot therefore come from the cooler, higher sites, while Shiraz, Cabernet and Viognier are sourced from the warmer sites closer to the valley floor. This makes a lot of sense: the Yarra is a vast and far-from-homogenous wine region. Elevations range from 80-450 metres above sea level while soil type and climatic differences also vary significantly. Depending on the location of the vineyard, there may be four weeks difference in ripening the same grape variety! James Halliday 2008 Australian Wine Companion.
