Tasting notes from the winery for Yangarra Blanc 2020

Blanc is the result of years of research and quarantine of the best white varieties we can find amongst the ancient north-west Mediterranean vine types. The fact that these Châteauneuf varieties have been successfully blended for so many years encouraged us to pursue this direction. On the back of Grenache Noirs success in our region, it seemed logical to pursue Châteauneuf’s top whites on our southern coast.

2020 Yangarra Estate Vineyard Blanc is a blend of Grenache Blanc (60%), Roussanne (17%), Clairette (10%), Picpoul (8%) and Bourboulenc (3%).

An Australian first; a heat resilient blend of white varieties sourced in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and grown on newly planted cuttings here on our single-vineyard Estate in McLaren Vale.

VINTAGE SUMMARY The 2020 harvest will be remembered for many years, mostly for all the wrong reasons. The growing season was marred by a very hot spring and the bushfires that ravaged vast areas of Australia. We feel incredibly blessed that in Mclaren Vale we were untouched by either the fires or smoke taint. The very hot spring did lead to lowest yields on our records, but as the grapes started their ripening process the weather miraculously cooled to one of the most mild ripening seasons, resulting in wonderful concentration of flavour, retention of natural acidity and brightness of fruit, but above all beautiful finesse and balanced tannins.

WINEMAKING This wine is based on simplicity of winemaking, and showcasing the fresh and crunchy style these varieties provide. Hand-picked and whole bunched pressed. We pressed and fermented all the Grenache Blanc and Roussanne separately. The Picpoul, Clairette and Bourboulenc were picked together, as the ripeness was very similar and their volumes small. The unclarified juice was fermented in 675 litres ceramic eggs and older French oak barriques, with no acid or sulphur additions. These varieties are supposedly very susceptible to oxidation, but we find we get better results not adding sulphur until the completion of primary sugar fermentation. The resulting wine was then matured in those same vessels on the lees and stirred monthly for 4 months. Bottled July 2020. 

VINEYARD INFORMATION

ELEVATION:  150 m above sea level

GEOLOGY: North Maslin Sands Formation(54 million years old)

SOIL:   Sandy Loam over clay, Sandy loam mottled with ironstone fragments over clay.

VARIETY: 62% Grenache blanc, 17% Roussanne, 10% Clairette,  8% Picpoul, 3% Bourboulenc

VITICULTURALIST: Michael Lane

WINE COMPOSITION: Grenache Blanc (60%), Roussanne (17%), Clairette (10%), Picpoul (8%) and Bourboulenc (3%).

REGION: Estate grown in Kangarilla, McLaren Vale, SA

ALCOHOL: 13.0%

T.A.:  5.2 g/L

pH:  3.31

WINEMAKER: Peter Fraser

Organic
Vegan Friendly
Certified Biodynamic

(SKU: YG_BLA_20)