CHARDONNAY HARVEST

2012 harvest starts tomorrow. We will be picking our P58 clone of Chardonnay (P stands for Penfolds since this is where this clone first came to light in Australia). It looks good, still retains good natural acidity and has all the tropical, limey fruit characters we are looking for.

 Bunches are small, as are individual berries. The clusters are not as tightly packed as usual which is great for air flow through the bunch to reduce moisture and humidity build-up. This greatly reduces any potential for damaging disease outbreaks. 
We bottled the 2011 last week. It will get a year in our temperature-controlled storage before it is released. It's slightly different in style from our previous wines, with the inclusion of a small amount of malo-lactic fermentation to add depth. 
Here's to 2012!