The Summer of Chenin Blanc

The Summer of Chenin is well and truly here. It’s time has come, and the young guns of winemaking are pushing the once uncool and undesirable varietal to the forefront of crisp, dry and acidic summer white options. The latest releases from Marri Wood Park celebrate Chenin’s revival, and are landing just in time for the Australian summer.

Marri Wood Park’s 2018 Sparkling Chenin Blanc is a dry, tight and textural bottle of fizz. It is celebratory, it is bright, it is shimmering – and a flavourful example of what the vineyard’s unique fruit will do after five years in bottle. The diversity of the fruit ripeness builds an unparalleled flavour profile. This is the first Marri Wood Park sparkling vintage spearheaded by Winemaker Nic Peterkin who joined the team in 2018.

The Marri Wood Park 2021 Chenin Blanc is an ode to summer in Margaret River. Acidity bounces around the tongue, like flickers of sunshine playing in the clear cerulean waves of nearby Smiths Beach. The aromatics – glistening and energetic like the lively bush surrounding Marri Wood Park’s Yallingup vineyard. The long finish – a melting sunset on the velvety shallows of a balmy and still Margaret River.

The final hero in the line-up is Marri Wood Park’s 2021 Sauvignon Blanc, a must try for Sauvignon purists – and people who are looking for something a little different. While not considered a cool kid varietal at the moment, the 2021 Sauvignon Blanc is serving up a fresh new profile. It is slippery, restrained, and a very fetching expression of a new winemaking approach for the variety.

Julian Wright, Marri Wood Park owner and viticulturist, is a dedicated biodynamic farmer. His only intervention is to prune the vines, and even that is minimal. There is no watering, no fertilising, no soil balancing at the Yallingup vineyard. A glass of Marri Wood Park wine is an incredibly pure expression of the world renowned Margaret River Wine Region.

Julian says: “I leave it up to the vines. This mentality started 20-years ago – and while our yield quantities do vary from season to season – the quality of the fruit is unwavering. These new releases are simply the latest expressions of our vineyard site.”

The complete list of new releases includes: 

2021 Chenin Blanc

"Nic Peterkin picks the chenin blanc later than was previously the case here, then wild-ferments and matures the wine in mostly older, larger barrels, stirring the lees every fortnight for 10 months before bottling. The result is sublime; all of Chenin's characteristic ripe golden-apple flavours and thrilling, mouth-watering acidity, but also layers of delicious rich savoury texture. Gorgeous, appealing, seductive - and age-worthy." Max Allen, AFR, December 2022

2021 Sauvignon Blanc

"Deviously complex, pulpy expression of this famously aromatic grape, focusing more on the palate structure than the perfume, thanks to malolactic and maturation in barrel and clay amphora." Max Allen, Dec 2022

2021 Cabernet Sauvignon

"As there is no other red grapes like merlot and malbec at Marri Wood Park to add to the cabernet to bring extra complexity or modulate structure (as is so often done in Margaret River), Peterkin uses techniques such as leaving some of the wine on skins for six months in amphora before draining it into barrel. There's no shortage of complexity here; fabulously intense pure black currant flavour, fine, grippy, tightly wound tannins." Max Allen, AFR, December 2022

Tasting notes and retail prices available here.

Marri Wood Park is an organic and Demeter certified biodynamic vineyard. All wines are hand-picked and hand-sorted single site varieties.