Otway Wines Chardonnay 2022
$39.50 Inc GST
100% Bernard 95 clone with a long history.
The Bernard 95 clone hails from Burgundy, France. It forms the basis of many famous White Burgundy and Chablis wines.
Renowned for producing a fine, elegant style, with good acid drive through palate length combined with good flavour concentration. It typically exhibits strong citrus flavours. It has become one of the most planted chardonnay clones in Australia over the last 8-10 years. Performs exceptionally in the cool climate of the Otway Ranges, where it produces a style more aligned with Chablis than Burgundy – a modern Australian chardonnay.
This is our first chardonnay hand crafted by Ray Nadeson at Lethbridge wines. To celebrate the change in winemaker, and in wine style, we have re-branded as Otway Wines, which is a name we reserved many years ago to match with our Otway Olives branding for our EVOO. Hope you like the label!
While still restrained, linear, and complex, this wine reflects the winemaking style of the winemaker – Ray Nadeson, while still displaying the characteristics of the cool Otways climate, and the Bernard 95 clone – a classic Dijon clone with its roots traced back to Burgundy.
The grapes were harvested from our Deans Marsh vineyard on Easter Saturday 2022. The grapes were delivered to Lethbridge on the same day, and immediately chilled before 100% whole bunch pressing the next day.
The wine was wild yeast and barrel fermented in 50% new oak (right alongside Lethbridge’s own amazing chardonnays), This wine has a style similar to Chablis.
As with all of our wine, this 2022 chardonnay has been cellared for several years to impart a degree of bottle aging before release.
Flavour Profile
Golden yellow in the glass, this wine has an inviting aroma of yellow nectarine with delicate notes of wildflowers, light beeswax, sweetness, and brioche.
Rich, yet elegant on the palate, with deep flavours of crunch Granny Smith apple followed by intense notes of barley and toasted brioche, balanced by a precise, long, zesty finish.
The grapes are 100% the Bernard 95 clone.
Awards
GOLD MEDAL GEELONG WINE SHOW 2025
94 points – The Wine Front
Special offer to celebrate our gold medal – spend more than $200 on any wines and receive a 20% discount applied at the checkout – offer expires 31 Jan 2026.
Footnote
In 2024 Lethbridge Wines was listed by James Halliday as no. 41 in his Top 100 Wineries in Australia.