Hoddles Creek Estate 1er Chardonnay 2023

The Hoddles Creek 1er Chardonnay is the embodiment of patience and precision. Produced from a single block on the estate’s Top Paddock vineyard, this wine represents a labour of love and a deep understanding of the land. Planted to Bernard clones of Chardonnay, this block sits 50 metres higher than the original vineyard, facing east to catch the morning sun. The vines are naturally low yielding, with concentrated fruit that speaks of the vineyard's unique terroir—poor soils, high altitude, and a challenging environment that forces the vines to work harder.

In the winery, Franco D'Anna and his team take a minimalist approach. The fruit is picked early, chilled, and gently pressed. After fermentation, the wine spends 12 months in oak casks with occasional stirring of the lees to build complexity and texture. No filtration, fining, or stabilization is used, ensuring a pure expression of the vineyard. The result is a Chardonnay that’s elegant, intense, and precisely structured, with layers of bright acidity, citrus fruit, and subtle oak influence. This is a wine that will age beautifully, rewarding those with the patience to cellar it.