La Ferme de Sato Le Chant du Vent Central Otago Chardonnay 2023

Description

“The 2022 Le Chant du Vent is a whole representation of the vineyard in Pisa, taking fruit from all three blocks (as opposed to the Les Blanches, which encompasses only two). The wine is handpicked overnight, basket pressed, wild fermented in oak barrels (15% new) and has no additions aside from 15 milligrams per liter of sulfites at bottling. It is matured for 16 months prior to bottling sans filtering or fining. The wine has ample mid-palate concentration. The fruit is piercing and focused. The Mendoza Chardonnay clone makes the majority of the wine, Clone 15, Clone 6 and 121. This is fleshy and yet driven by minerality, with finesse and focus in equal proportion. I love this wine here today; it is cold and sunny outside as I write this (in March 2025), and the wine echoes the sentiment of its environment: cool, rocky and vastly impactful” Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

“Lots of croissant and freshly-baked-bread undertones to the lovely cooked-apple character in this. It’s medium-bodied with a dense center palate and creamy texture. Delicious at the end. Drink or hold” James Suckling, Jamessuckling.com

Sato Pisa Vineyard. Soil: Alluvial, sandy or silt loam with schist & quartz gravel. Viticulture: No pesticides, herbicides, systemic fungicides or inorganic fertilisers used. Harvest: Hand picked, 19 – 28 March 2022. 35 hl/ha. Vinification: Pressed overnight with basket press. Natural yeast fermentation in oak barrels. No additives except for 15 mg/L sulphites before bottling. Maturation: 16 months in French oak barrels. 18% new oak. Bottled: 28 August 2023 without fining or filtration. 3622 bottles produced.