Singlefile Denmark Family Reserve Chardonnay 2015

"It doesn’t make any difference whether it is this year, last year or the year before; Singlefile is just another of these incredibly competently-handled boutique wineries that seem to have a never-ending string of superb and reasonably priced wines that are amongst the very best of their styles and price ranges."  John Jens

Singlefile is located in the Scotsdale Valley, seven kilometres from Denmark in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. The flagship Denmark Family Reserve Chardonnay is sourced from the estate Singlefile Vineyard, planted in 1989 and the jewel in the crown. 

"Intense grapefruit leading white peach through the bouquet and into a complex palate. One of those all-too-few wines that manage to combine elegance with intensity and complexity, notes of cashew and cream swirling around in the background."  James Halliday

"This wine has aromas of intense grapefruit and white peach with a mealy (lees worked) complexity. The palate experiences a concentration of citrus and stone fruit with cashew nuts and a creamy texture due to partial malo-lactic fermentation. The wine is effortlessly mouth filling with a delicate balance of fruit and acidity and a long lingering finish. A wine of both power and finesse, that will continue to develop in the bottle over the next ten years.

The 2015 fruit was harvested by hand, chilled overnight, then whole bunch pressed and fermented in 40% new and 60% one-year-old French oak barriques from the Francois Freres, Dargaud and Jaegelle cooperages. The wine spent eight and a half months in oak with partial (~10% malolactic fermentation to develop mouth feel), with lees stirring occurring at weekly intervals during the first four months."  Singlefile

Expert reviews

"Selected each year on a row-by-row basis, hand-picked, chilled overnight, whole bunch-pressed, fermented in French barriques (40% new), matured for 8.5 months, a small portion (less than 10%) undergoing mlf. A very, very different wine to its Great Southern sibling, with intense grapefruit leading white peach through the bouquet and into a complex palate. One of those all-too-few wines that manage to combine elegance with intensity and complexity, notes of cashew and cream swirling around in the background. Drink by: 2030."  James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion - 97 points and Special Value Wine ★

"Intense grapefruit and white peach aromas with a mealy complexity. The palate is concentrated with citrus, stone fruit and cashew with a mouth watering texture and a long, lingering finish."  Mike Bennie, Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine - Top Chardonnay

Awards

Special Value Wine – Halliday Wine Companion  ★

About the winery

Phil and Viv Snowden sold their highly successful mining consulting business in 2004 and set out to chase their dream to produce high quality wines. Their search for the ideal spot to cultivate grapes let them to a picturesque property in the Scotsdale Valley, seven kilometres from Denmark in WA’s Great Southern region, which they purchased in 2007. Daughter Pam and son-in-law Patrick Corbett came on board, keen to inject their energy into a new project. They renamed the property 'Singlefile' as the family’s geese waddle single file to the property’s lake each day.

Patrick became CEO of Singlefile in 2009 and highly respected winemaker Larry Cherubino was retained to advise on site selection, fruit treatment and style development. The property already had an established vineyard, the Singlefile vineyard, that was planted to Chardonnay, Merlot and Shiraz in 1989. The team decided to pull out the Shiraz and Merlot vines and replace them with more Chardonnay, in order to focus their viticulture efforts on just six acres of chardonnay. A smart move given Denmark's ability to produce stunning Chardonnay. Today, Singlefile produce three tiers of Chardonnay from their estate Singlefile vineyard. 

Singlefile then set up partnerships across the vast Great Southern region to extend their varietal range and portfolio of wines. They produce a large number of wines under their Great Southern label, which blends fruit from multiple sub-regions. In addition, they produce single vineyard wines from carefully selected sites throughout the region - a Riesling from Bates Rock Vineyard in Porongurup, a Riesling from Pearse Vineyard in Mount Barker, a GSM blend, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon from the highly regarded Riversdale Vineyard in Frankland River, and a Semillon Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir from Denmark. Refer to the map below which details the five sub-regions of Great Southern.

Singlefile Vineyard, Demark

The Singlefile vineyard on the estate in Denmark’s Scotsdale Valley is the jewel in the crown. The vineyard is 60 metres above sea level and slopes north/north-westwards, which assists greatly with irrigation and drainage of winter rains. It is planted on rich karri loam and is sheltered by the surrounding giant karri trees. There is ample rainfall in the area, especially in winter, although the vineyard has an irrigation system fed by a large dam on the property. In 2009, the team decided to pull out the Shiraz and Merlot vines and replace them with more Chardonnay.

After much love and tender care, the vineyard yield stabilised due to a combination of re-trellising, pruning, shoot thinning, instigation of the Smart-Dyson foliar management system and regular weed reduction. The irrigation system was last used in 2010.

The microclimate of the vineyard is such that it is typically the last Chardonnay vineyard to be picked in the district – sometimes up to a month after other Chardonnay vineyards. This is primarily due to its ability to retain acidity while ripening and consequently a complex style of chardonnay can be produced.

The upper block is planted with the Gin Gin clone and this is what is predominantly selected for the flagship wine, Singlefile Family Reserve Chardonnay. The Gin Gin clone, also referred to as the Mendoza clone, was first imported by Houghton Winery in 1957. It is a low-yielding clone that makes wine with complex citrus and tropical fruit flavours and a supple texture. Coupled with the low yields, the high skin-to-juice ratio of the grapes gives the wines great depth and concentration of flavours. The lower block is planted to Clone 7 and the fruit for this is used for the Singlefile Denmark Chardonnay.

 

The five sub-regions of Great Southern