2016 Flowstone Queen of the Earth Chardonnay, Margaret River

A low yielding crop from the estate's home vineyard was fermented in equal parts new and used barriques, with full mlf, before a further 18 months of ageing in the same vessels, imparting a key lime zing to the aroma and a finely tuned meld of match strike flint. Lemon curd, white peach and grapefruit pulp purr along finely tuned mineral cylinders. This is exceptional, with winemaking a point. A challenge to differentiate between top white Burgundy and the stamp of a regional superstar!

James Halliday Australian Wine Companion

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The vineyard lives on the edge of the Margaret River Plateau, where it adjoins the Leeuwin Naturaliste Coastal strip. 6kms west of this is the Indian Ocean.

This plateau is characterised by deep gravel soils on gently undulating slopes, dissected by valley streams. In stark contrast, the Leeuwin Naturaliste Coastal strip is a narrow discontinuous ridge of thick and porous limestone, deposited from the ocean by the action of wind and water over time. The Boranup Forest sits on this coastal strip and is home to many of Margaret River’s caves.

These adjacent yet contrasting landforms share the ancient and impermeable Leeuwin Block granite basement rock, which defines water flows in the cave world of the limestone ridge and the soils of the plateau. This basement rock is between 2,000M to 650M years old.

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