2023, a vintage of Epicness. It was goldilocks personified and you all know what goldilocks liked, she liked things just right. It was cool yet sunny, had great spring rain but lovely long largely dry growing season. As such I it would be amiss if the wine didn’t mirror this amazing season but fortunately it does…. pretty sure Goldilocks was a 10 which is pretty much how I rate this wine and the Season. In fact it might be the best ever. Time will tell, but in the 24 Vintages I have done in Australia I cant think of another as effortless and awesome. Sometimes things just go right and here it is, bask in the glory and fill the cellar. This wine is a combination of three vineyards all epic in their own kinda way - Grace & White, Wilson’s and Tassell Road. Blending this wine was very exciting I must say it’s a true honour and pleasure to have such amazing fruit to work with and showcase the best Margaret River has to offer. The season was moderate to early in terms of picking dates. But as always, these vineyards were some of the last being harvested between the 27 th of Feburary and 1 st of March. Picking decision are never easy with Chardonnay but this year it seemed we had time. Flavours where intense but the ripening didn’t race and snatching fruit at its zenith seemed a little easier than it can be. The grapes were harvested by hand and whole bunch-pressed directly to new, one- and two-year-old puncheons, with a smattering of barriques for good measure. We did no settling or fining. This juice was then very carefully neglected and allowed to undergo spontaneous fermentation, which kicked off on day three after pressing. After a four-week ferment the wine remained on gross lees unsulphured until September of that year. In November it was emptied from barrel, settled, filtered and bottled. This wine is, unsurprisingly, epic. In fact, I think this is easily the most righteous SR chardonnay made to date. It’s pale green, smells of white stone fruits and gun flint and seabreeze. Its more restrained perhaps than the traditional stylings of Margaret River but I think its all the better for it … understated awesomeness if you will. As with every Nocturne wine the texture and flavour to die for impeccably framed by sherbert like acidity and fine phenolic structure.. Chardonnay is what Jesus made when he turned water into wine; it’s also why we winemakers have a God complex.

- Julian Langworthy

Treeton. It’s a weird little area full of hillbillies, dairy cows and interestingly some great Chardonnay vineyards.... Cold at night, warm in the day, with deep silver/grey sands that I think produce great Chardonnay. This wine is a combination of two vineyards, that in this year were just right - awesome in fact. Grace & White which has been with me a while and a new vineyard called Wilsons which is very exciting to have hold of another tiny and unique fruit resource. 2022 is another very good vintage, it also does suck a bit as there was very little of it - crops were at an all-time low on many sites and these Chardonnay vineyards were no exception. ‘22 was also pretty darn warm at times which goes against the recent vintage grain in Margaret River, but it seemed no issue for these great sites that sailed through the heat with nary an issue. The season was early-ish in terms of picking dates. But, as always, these vineyards were some of the last, both being harvested on the 28th of February. Weirdly, this was actually about the same time as the cooler and wetter 2021 vintage, and very similar to the very mild and much heavier cropping 2023 vintage... go figure. The grapes were harvested by hand and whole bunch-pressed directly to new, one and two-year-old puncheons, with a smattering of barriques for good measure. We did no settling or fining. The juice was then very carefully neglected and allowed to undergo spontaneous fermentation, which kicked off on day three after pressing. After a four-week ferment the wine remained on gross lees un-sulphured until September of that year. In November, it was emptied from barrel, settled, filtered and bottled. This wine is, unsurprisingly, just right. In fact, I think this is easily the most righteous SR Chardonnay made to date. It’s pale green, smells of white stone fruits and gun flint and sea breeze. It is more restrained perhaps, than the traditional stylings of Margaret River but I think it’s all the better for its understated awesomeness if you will. As with every Nocturne wine, the texture and flavour are to die for & impeccably framed by sherbet-like acidity and fine phenolic structure... Chardonnay is what Jesus made when he turned water into wine; it’s also why we winemakers have a God complex.

– Julian