The J.E range is dedicated to fruit from our own Ngeringa vineyards. Being a small winery and yet being painstakingly particular with the quality of our fruit and final wine batches, we find ourselves with the dilemma of a barrel or two each year being stubborn outsiders to the style we aim to bottle under our NGERINGA label. And so we have some fun assembling our J.E wines.

This JE assemblage white is a unique combination of estate grown fruit on the 3 different sites. The 2013 JE is a comprised of 70% Chardonnay and 30% Viognier. Our leaner Chardonnay from the cooler and lower parts of the Summit Vineyard gives the wine its acidity while the Viognier offers beautiful body and expressive aromatics, ranging from stone fruits to musk to more exotic tropical fruits. Like all our whites, the deep texture is always a distinctive feature. A significant portion of the Viognier had skin contact for five days prior to fermentation, this was to enhance the colour and add a greater depth of flavour. Made with only natural yeast, then 100% malolactic fermentation. Post fermentation each grape variety 100% barrel aged separately with a total of 20% new French for 12 months. Each barrel is selected on taste alone and the wine is Bottled after 12 months without fining of filtering.

VINTAGE: Across Australia, the 2013 growing season was characterised by record-breaking heat and infrequent, scant rainfalls. Indeed, in the Eastern States – and even closer to home – many vineyards began irrigating in the late winter in anticipation of a devastatingly dry spring to come. In years such as this the Adelaide Hills’ typically higher precipitation and lower temperature stand us in good stead. Our minimally irrigated vines – with strong, healthy roots deeply embedded in the cooling soil – steadfastly withstood the drier weather and benefitted from the cooler nights. On the positive side, as well, there was essentially no disease pressure throughout the Hills leaving us and our vines only the vagaries of the climate to contend with. Good warmth toward the end of February and during harvest ensured excellent ripening in the final few weeks of the season. The upshot was a vintage with good yields, similar to our 2010 crop levels although without the same evenness. Vigilance was required during this condensed, four-week harvest to ensure that fruit was picked at optimum maturity from the different parts of the vineyards. Wines from this vintage tend to be tight and focused.

(SKU: 1409)