Winemaking

All of our wines are made in our purpose built on-site winery specifically designed to deal with numerous small batches.

The philosophy is to preserve the vineyard characters exhibited by the fruit.

Chardonnay

The handpicked fruit is whole bunch pressed and transferred to new and used French oak. Fermentation occurs naturally without yeast additions. Once fermentation has ceased, the wine is sulphured to prevent malolactic fermentation. Our desire is to retain all the freshness of the naturally occurring acidity. The wines are not battonaged, resulting in finer more elegant wines.

For the Estate Chardonnay, Faultline and Farrago wines up to 30 per cent new oak is used, the remainder being one to three year old barrels. The Clonale parcels use only 10 per cent to 15 per cent new French oak. These wines are then bottled after approximately 12 months.

Pinot Noir

All of the Pinot Noir fruit is hand picked and 100 per cent de-stemmed into open vat fermenters. The fruit is chilled to approximately 8-10 degrees and then allowed to warm up ambiently. Spontaneous fermentation occurs about 4-8 days later.

Cap management is via hand plunging as well as a computer controlled mechanical plunger. Once the fermentation is complete (between days 14-20) the wine is pressed and transferred to French oak barrels.

For the Estate Pinot Noir, Haven, Meres and Ferrous, up to 30 per cent new French oak is used. These wines are typically bottled after 18 months.

The Massale parcels use only 10 per cent to 15 per cent new French oak. The wine is then bottled after approximately 12 months. This shorter maturation period is designed to make this wine more approachable when young.

Pinot Gris and Viognier

The handpicked fruit is whole bunch pressed and transferred to used French oak. Fermentation occurs naturally without yeast additions. Once fermentation has ceased, the wine is sulphured to prevent malolactic fermentation. Our desire is to retain all of the freshness of the naturally occurring acidity. The wines are not battonaged, resulting in finer more elegant wines. By using only old oak, the wines receive the benefit of added texture without any oak flavours being imparted.

Closure Selection

Kooyong carefully selects the most appropriate closure for each wine it produces. The closure is chosen based on quality, consistency and permeability. All estate grown wines are sealed with Diam. This closure is a conglomerate cork which has been treated to remove all volatile compounds including those responsible for cork taint. It is 100 per cent consistent and available in a range of permeabillities. For more information about this closure, please visit www.oeneoclosuresusa.com.