'Anniversary' Blanc de Blanc Sparkling Wine 2023

Tasting Notes

Woody Nook Wines “Anniversary” Blanc de Blancs 2023 Sparkling is made in the traditional method from 100% hand-picked, estate grown chardonnay. Twenty months on yeast lees prior to release has produced an exceptionally complex sparkling wine displaying Granny Smith apple, brioche and nashi pear aromatics, finishing long with a crisp and clean, lemon zest palate. Very fine bead and persistent mousse add to a delicious sparkling wine with remarkable finesse.

Winemaker's Notes 

7.0 tonne of Joliffe block, Gingin clone chardonnay was hand-picked on the 17^th February 2023 at 11.0° baumé. The fruit was picked early at low pH and high TA (titratable acidity), numbers that are key to producing quality sparkling wine. The base wine was cool fermented (16°C) with DV10 yeast over two weeks before racking, fining, stabilization and filtration. The next stage is called tirage, where sugar and yeast are added to the base wine before bottling in heavy duty sparkling bottles and sealed with a crown seal where it undergoes a secondary ferment stored in crates in a warm room at 18 - 20°C for approximately four – eight weeks. The yeast converts the sugar to alcohol (can increase the overall alcohol by approximately 0.5 -1%) and carbon dioxide – the bubbles! The now sparkling wine stays in contact with the spent yeast cells (lees), a process called yeast autolysis that provides the fresh baked bread characters, the longer the time on lees, the more depth and complexity you will get or disgorge after twelve months for a refreshing, crisp style. The sparkling was riddled to settle out the lees, neck frozen then disgorged to remove the lees plug. The sparkling was then dosaged with expedition liqueur (sugar solution) to balance the wine (approximately 7.5 gms/lt), topped then sealed with a cork and wire (muselet) before finally being labelled.

391 dozen were produced.