Ridgemill Estate "Eloise" Blanc de Blanc 2011 - QWine Reviews

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Ridgemill Estate "Eloise" Blanc de Blanc 2011

Ridgemill's first release sparkling was named "Eloise" after the owner's first grand daughter.

A Blanc de Blanc with the Chardonnay fruit hand picked, some of which was sourced from a nearby vineyard. This is a good first up effort with the fruit basket pressed and made Methode Traditionelle.

Aged for sixteen months on lees, 900 odd bottles were produced and will be disgorged in three stages when required. The first three hundred are ready for sale through the Cellar Door and this was launched last weekend. A point of difference with this sparkling is that not too many sparklings are made from scratch on the Granite Belt. A mere handful. Some wineries around the country take the easy option and have sparkling wine made for them by BRL Hardy's which is delivered to their winery door bottled for a cost of around four or five bucks each! All the winery has to do is drop their label on it and up the price deluxe. Not the case here, and credit due for giving it a crack from scratch.

Colours similar to apple cider, there is a persistent bead which fizzes away impressively and never seemed to tire.

Simple bready characters on the nose, there are green apple flavours on the palate along with some yeastiness. Soft flavours move slowly across the palate, but in the end, it lacks interest. Make no mistake, it is very easy to drink and certainly approachable, finishing long and dry.

The third disgorgement will potentially be the best of this 2011 vintage having had the extra time on lees to develop some more complexity. I certainly would be interested to line up the three wines, one from each disgorgement, to see how the wine has developed.

Available only at Cellar Door and online.

Who: Ridgemill Estate http://www.RidgemillEstate.com/
What: Chardonnay (12.5% alc)
Where: Granite Belt
When: 2011
How: $28

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