Yering Station Yarra Valley Chardonnay

Yering Station's origins trace to 1838 — the oldest vineyard site in Victoria — yet every bottle in the current portfolio is built on vines planted from 1988 onward, meaning the estate's reputation rests entirely on winemaking discipline rather than old-vine mythology. That discipline is immediately legible in the Yarra Valley Chardonnay. Fruit is sourced from deep clay-loam soils across Yering's Yarra Glen sites, where the heavier substructure retains moisture through the dry finish of the growing season, moderating sugar accumulation and preserving the natural acidity that defines cool-climate Yarra Chardonnay. Fermentation is conducted with wild yeast in French puncheons — larger-format barrels that slow oxidative exchange and reduce the risk of oak domination — with new oak held to the lower end of the estate's 14–29% range, keeping the wood as a textural frame rather than a flavour source. All parcels are vinified separately and assessed blind at an annual allocation tasting before tier assignment, so this wine's position in the portfolio is earned on merit each vintage. The screwcap closure, in place for over two decades, is a deliberate structural choice: it locks in the reductive brightness and site-specific mineral tension that warmer-region Australian Chardonnay routinely trades away for approachability.