2023 Oakey Creek Vineyard Chardonnay

Our second Chardonnay release from the Oakey Creek Vineyard, following the purchase of this 40Ha property in mid-2021 from the Drayton family. The fruit for this wine is sourced from a small 2.68Ha parcel which is on a gentle south-east facing slope. This is situated slightly above the Semillon that we have taken from the site over the past three decades, which is all on the alluvial Oakey Creek flats. We still receive many enquiries about our Graveyard Vineyard Chardonnay, last made in 2004, so we continue the tradition of a single vineyard Hunter Valley Chardonnay. Our third consecutive wet year, La Nina continued to make herself known through the first three quarters of the year, with widespread floods again experienced across South Eastern Australia. Up to the 31st of December 2022, we received 1365.5mm of rain with 97 rain days at Brokenwood. Pokolbin reached its annual rainfall by the end of June, with 2022 being the wettest year that we have had on record. The start of the growing season was particularly challenging with vineyard access and Downy Mildew pressure a constant issue. Thankfully, the weather cleared up in late October, with relatively benign conditions taking us through the final two months of the year and into January. Fruit condition and canopy were excellent despite the cool summer. This resulted in one of the latest harvests on record, with the first Chardonnay not being picked until the 31st of January. Picking was conducted under cool, cloudy skies