2023 Chalmers Vineyard Colbinabbin Nebbiolo

Vineyard

From the Chalmers Vineyard Nebbiolo planting. The planting contains an extremely diverse array of material. Planted on the sweet middle of the east-facing slope with E/W orientation, this block provides the best possible leaping-off point for the variety in the region, in my opinion. Soils are ancient Cambrian meta-basalt. This block in particular is positioned where the subsoils (greenstone and quartz) protrude through clay and silt. 

Clones of MAT 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and CV230 are planted on a mix of own roots, Richter 110, Teleki, 420A, and Paulsen. Farmed by Troy and Fleur McInnes for the Chalmers family.

In the cellar

The 2023 wine is the third harvest from this vineyard. I picked the 22’ too early, and did not release the wine, so just the second to be labeled under this project.

In 2023 we pushed the wine further towards a Bramattera / Ghemme direction with the inclusion of darker clonal material (MAT5 and MAT8) along with my preferred MAT1,3, 10 and 230.

Longer maceration of 28 days and the careful inclusion of pressings wine allowed me to play more deliberately with early polymerisation and oxygen integration, and created a softer fruit, with a more stable, darker colour. The wine is carefully raised in a Stainless / Oak / Stainless progression over two years, living in a 2100L Slavonian oak botti for the most part, with periodic racking. Bottled in January 2025.