The fruit for the 2009 MadFish Gold Turtle Chardonnay was sourced from three premium sub-regions of Margaret River, each re-nowned for the production of high quality Chardonnay. The majority of the fruit was grown on our own Leston vineyard in the Wilyabrup sub-region of Margaret River. Two outstanding parcels of fruit were also sourced from the Yallingup and Karridale sub-regions of Margaret River to complete the blend. There are six different Chardonnay clones featured in the final blend, all playing an important role in the complexity of the wine. Weather conditions leading up to the 2009 vintage were summarized by a warm early spring and a ‘normal’ growing season. These conditions allowed for even and clean fruit development with harvest commencing in late February.
Once the fruit was harvested by hand, the grapes were then chilled overnight and manually sorted to ensure only the highest quality juice was extracted. The grapes were loaded directly into the press for whole bunch pressing with the resultant juice filled directly to French oak barriques for fermentation. Approximately 20% of the fermentation occurred in new French oak, with the balance of the juice filled to 1 and 2 year old barriques. Only natural yeast was used to carry out the fermentation to ensure maximum complexity and texture in the final wine. Stirring of the yeast lees in barrel post fermentation also helped to develop texture and complexity. The secondary malolactic fermentation was discouraged to maintain the natural acid backbone to the wine which is a key feature of Margaret River Chardonnay. Oak maturation occurred over 12 months followed by bottling.