PV Tasting Notes
The 2008 Heggies Reserve Chardonnay is every bit as good as the 2007, even more refined and a lot more elegant. A nice pale yellow in colour, with coaxing and allowing the wine to warm up in the glass, stone fruits, gunflint minerality, lemon, iodine and grapefruit rind on the nose, but it all needs coaxing, to be considered, I even found a touch of goat cheese in the aromatics. This is a very young wine, fairly tactile with a terrific core of fruit, excellent balance, no oiliness and with an air of precision brought about by the vibrant acidity. The mouth presence is also understated, but one of underlying power, matchstick smoke, nectarine, pear, candied fruits and hazelnut, stacked and packed with a long, long finish. I think this has huge cellaring potential and would do some serious damage served blind in a flight of Grand Cru Burgundies. This is another vintage of pure and utter class, what a wine for the money!
Independent Review91 Points Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate Feb 2012
The 2008 Reserve Chardonnay offers intense yeasty / mealy notes over a core of grapefruit peel, green mango and under-ripe pineapple plus hints of chalk and chopped nuts. Light to medium bodied with a very good concentration of rich, taut fruit, it’s still very youthful with a racy line of acid lending lift through the long toasty finish. Drink it now to 2016+.
Serve this with any fish or seafood in a buttery sauce and you’ll be in heaven also suits white fish simply grilled or meunière, Dover Sole, Turbot, Halibut, Brill, Scallops, Roast Veal, organic Chicken stuffed with herbs or truffles under the skin.
"At times Heggies Vineyard is a challenging and unpredictable site, each micro-site or block within the vineyard is managed individually", says viticulturist Darrell Kruger.
At 550 metres above sea level, Heggies is one of Australia's highest altitude vineyards and also one of its coolest. The close-planted clonally-selected grafted vines are grown in semi-drought conditions, meaning the soil is lean and hungry - a thin layer of grey sandy loam over clay and decomposed rock. The vines compete vigorously for moisture and nutrient, encouraging roots to dig deep into the soil where it is moist and cool throughout all seasons.
For such a unique vineyard - standard vineyard management at Heggies is impossible. Each grape variety has its own programme of care according to its position in the vineyard. Trellising and canopy structure is varied from vine to vine, as are pruning regimes and row spacings. Working with the natural advantage rather than against it is the driving force in working the vineyard and every factor is taken into consideration, including the micro-climates within the vineyard, aspect and soil type.
The main advantage of the tailored vineyard management is the flexibility it affords. Staggered maturity times for the grapes allow some breathing space to give each variety the specialised attention required during harvest and throughout the early winemaking stages - the only way of ensuring each wine is able to develop its own character and personality.