Southern Light Vineyards Ghostgum Chardonnay 2022

Southern Light Vineyards craft wines of individuality from three cool-climate vineyards in the Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. The evocativally named Ghostgum Vineyard is situated in Main Ridge on the Mornington Peninsula and is one of the highest elevation vineyards on the Peninsula at 174m above sea level. The 5.5 hectare vineyard, first planted between 1990-1995, is planted solely to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

"A relatively new operation out of Mornington Peninsula, the Main Ridge sub-region, which is producing some seriously good wines. The wine is beautifully fragrant. There is oak but it is so well integrated that it is almost invisible. We have notes of figs, lemon curd, stonefruits and white peaches followed by appealing touches of oatmeal on the palate. Fine vibrant acidity runs the length, which is seriously impressive. Love it."  Ken Gargett

"The Ghostgum Vineyard Chardonnay is highly perfumed with fresh sage leaf, white peach, and nashi pear; there is a subtle undercurrent of brioche bun, almond meal, and struck match, characteristic of oak maturation. A touch of lemon curd on the nose follows through to the palate which has a strong citrus core, showing lime, mandarin and orange peel. It has an acid drive that goes for days, with a wet rock minerality to close. Once again, a wine full of energy and poise which will benefit further with bottle age for years to come. 

Cloudy juice was transferred to 300L Fremch oak barrels (20%) new for indigenous fermentation. Post sugar fermentation, some of the barrels were sulphured and stored away in the cold barrel store to prevent malo-lactic fermentation, thus retaining some of that electric acid. A portion of barrels (around 30%) were kept in a warmer part of the winery and left un-sulphured to encourage malo which lowers the acid and adds texture to the wine. The final blend utilises both these components to create a more complex wine. Clone I10V1."  Southern Light Vineyards

Expert reviews

"A composed offering with a balance of flavours from grapefruit and lemon to white peach, with tangy acidity, oak spice and a fine layer of creamy lees. It is also a savoury wine, moreish and refreshing thanks to its fine acidity. It feels effortless, and certainly so to drink, and buoyant thanks to its citrusy tang on the finish, yet is all about texture. This is good. Very good. Drink by 2030."  Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion - 95 points

"A relatively new operation out of Mornington Peninsula, the Main Ridge sub-region, which is producing some seriously good wines. The Chardonnay vineyard was originally planted between 1990 and 1995 – total vineyard size, on an east-facing slope, is just 5.5 hectares. Fermentation is with wild yeasts in 300-litre French oak, 20% new. Partial malolactic fermentation is encouraged. Yellow straw in colour, the wine is beautifully fragrant. There is oak but it is so well integrated that it is almost invisible. We have notes of figs, lemon curd, stonefruits and white peaches followed by appealing touches of oatmeal on the palate. Fine vibrant acidity runs the length, which is seriously impressive. Love it. Enjoy over the next five to eight years. Drink: 2024-2032."  Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot - 95 points

"Great review here. Spot on. Creamy lactic things and brisk acidity underlying, saline notes, green apple strength, pink grapefruit, balance and drive and freshness. Vibrant and cool. It does a lot. Winner."  Mike Bennie, The Wine Front

"This has the texture, flavour and length to thrill. Leesy, creamy, floral characters run into grapefruit, lemon curd, white peach and citrus, with almond paste characters tucked well within. The flavours are both harmonious and intense, not to mention attractive, but the calling card of this wine is in its momentum, and texture. It flows, and it feels good as it does. Drink: 2024-2030+."  Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front - 94 points

Ghostgum vineyard

Situated atop Main Ridge in Boon Wurrung Country on the Mornington Peninsula, this site is one of the highest elevation vineyards on the Peninsula at approximately 174m above sea level. Traditionally the property was orchard land – mostly cherries and apples – before being turned to vegetable growing and cattle grazing in the later part of the 20th century.

The vineyard is planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on a gentle, east-facing slope. Vines were first planted between 1990-1995, which form part of the current 5.5 hectare vineyard today. The Pinot Noir comprises four blocks planted to clones 115, 777, D2V5 and MV6, while the Chardonnay is planted to clone I10V1.

The vineyard soils are red ferrosols – deep, friable, and porous red soils that can also retain enough water to avoid having to use irrigation. These soils are basalt derived where the odd 'buckshot' chunk of ironstone can still be found. ​

Anthony Fikkers

Southern Light Vineyards winemaker, Anthony Fikkers

Anthony Fikkers has a passion for cool-climate winemaking. He belongs to an exciting new generation of winemakers who believe a hands-off approach from vineyard to bottle results in wines brimming with personality and authenticity. Here, the fruit takes centre stage, and the resulting wines are unadulterated, expressive reflections of time and place.

Anthony started in the wine industry in 2000 and has since completed Bachelor degrees in both Winemaking and Viticulture as well as working vintages in the Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula, Hunter Valley, Baden (Germany), Piemonte (Italy) and Burgundy (France). He has worked for a swag of prominent wineries including Mount Pleasant, Giant Steps, De Bortoli (Hunter), Maddens Rise, Mac Forbes, Medhurst and Southern Light Vineyards, and also runs his own brand, Fikkers Wine.

Anthony believes that making his own wines (under the Fikkers label) from the Upper Yarra taught him most about cool-climate winemaking. "It’s only when you control the entire process that you really get a feel for what each vineyard can deliver as you’re involved from growing the fruit all the way through to bottle," he says, before adding, "Working across multiple sites in the Upper Yarra with Mac Forbes and Giant Steps was a pretty good help too."

As to his philosophy when it comes to winemaking, "I believe in letting the vineyard expression shine through in the glass. I achieve this by not manipulating the fruit too much, I prefer to guide it along its own path. It starts with the picking time of the grapes (not too ripe, not too green) and flows through to ferment techniques (not too cold, not too hot, not too many bunches in the Pinot) and maturation (for the love of God, not too much oak!)."

Anthony has been working in the Yarra Valley for over 17 years and calls it home. When asked to describe the local winemaking community, he replies, "Talented. As you would expect from Australia’s best wine region. As the Yarra doesn’t have the history of some other regions, there’s not generations of winemakers. Rather, winemakers are drawn here by the opportunity to make great cool climate wines. There are constantly young and talented people arriving in the Yarra."

According to leading wine critic Campbell Mattinson, "Anthony Fikkers gives the impression of being smarter than your average bear. Fikkers not only knows his way around cool climate viticulture (he has both winemaking and viticulture qualifications) but he’s also seen first hand, over a longish period, both the right way to do things, and the wrong way. Crucially, he also knows what it’s like to put it all on the line under his own name."  

The winery

"Southern Light Vineyards was born out of the desire to craft wines of individuality from some of Victoria’s best cool-climate vineyards. Part of Joval Family Wines, this project is the culmination of our 40 years’ experience in wine and is led by a small team of people with a shared passion for hand-crafted wines made without compromise.

We grow grapes in the Mornington Peninsula and the Yarra Valley. Each of our three sites are unique, but the common thread among them is vineyard diversity. Whether we are referring to vine age, clonal selection, aspect, altitude, or exposure – diversity plays a key role in creating wines of depth and complexity. 

We firmly believe that all great wine is crafted from the ground up. Each block of the vineyard is hand-picked and managed gently from vineyard through to press, and blocks are fermented and matured separately until blending.

Southern Light Vineyards’ winery is in Healesville, in the Yarra Valley region of Victoria. It sits amongst a historical vineyard site that has been growing vines for over 40 years. The winery itself is built for small batch processing which helps us to produce wine of high quality. All batches are matured separately on site in distinct cool and warm rooms to manage fermentation.

We select barrels from some of the finest French coopers which allow the fruit to really shine; we’re not aiming for a big, woody imprint on the wines. We use new oak to lift the fruit and help carry it to the finish, adding length and line.

Our first release will be the 2021 Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Ghostgum Vineyard. Situated atop Main Ridge in Boon Wurrung Country on the Mornington Peninsula, this site is one of the highest elevation vineyards on the Peninsula at approximately 174m above sea level. Here we farm just 5.5 hectares of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on a gentle, east-facing slope.

These wines are made to speak of place, and are reflections of the high-altitude, cool and windy site where the grapes are grown. This is balanced out beautifully with a long growing season with plenty of sunshine which is typical of the Mornington Peninsula’s maritime climate.

With only 500 cases made between both wines in 2021, this truly is a passion project with a no compromise approach. In future, we’ll also look to release wines grown from our Yarra Valley vineyards, but for now, we’re very excited about the release of Ghostgum."  Southern Light Vineyards

The following text is taken from an article by Campbell Mattinson at https://www.campbellmattinson.com

Southern Light Vineyards is a name you need to know. It is because the initial wines are good – they were grown on the highest vineyard at Main Ridge, on the Mornington Peninsula – but also because this endeavour is the baby of Joval Wines, and Joval doesn’t do anything by halves.

Eventually there will be a few tiers to this range; Southern Light Vineyards owns three vineyards, two of them in the Yarra Valley, the third on the Mornington Peninsula. All the wines will be either chardonnay or pinot noir. So far, all we’ve seen are two wines from the elevated 5.5 hectare Ghost Gum vineyard at Main Ridge in Mornington. 2021 was the first release; 2022 is the current.

These wines are made by Anthony Fikkers, who not only gives the impression of being smarter than your average bear, but is also ex Giant Steps, De Bortoli (Hunter), Maddens Rise and Mac Forbes, among others. Fikkers ran his own brand for a period too, which memorably featured (among other wines) the Fikkers Two Bricks label. Fikkers not only knows his way around cool climate viticulture (he has both winemaking and viticulture qualifications) but he’s also seen first hand, over a longish period, both the right way to do things, and the wrong way. Crucially, he also knows what it’s like to put it all on the line under his own name.

Given that Southern Light Vineyards is owned by Joval, it will no doubt be ambitious. If you could tailor-make past experience to help realise these ambitions, you’d reckon that Fikkers is pretty much the perfect fit.

The Joval group, if you’re not aware, is owned by the Valmorbida family. This family has incredible experience in wine (and food) retail, wholesale, distribution and production. Some of this experience is outlined, quite fascinatingly, here. Joval own both the Mezzanine and Red+White wine distribution companies, and again if you’re not familiar, read the list here and weep.

If there’s one advantage Southern Light Vineyards will have, it’s stellar distribution.

Joval have done it all in the food and wine space, pretty much, though there’s a slight difference with Southern Light Vineyards. Here, they are not buying an existing winery or brand or stock. Here, for the family’s first time in wine, they are building everything from the ground up: own vineyards, own winemaker, own winery, own label, own distribution. I once lived next to a fanatical fly fisherman and he said to me, one day, that the proudest moment of his life – outside of his family life, of course – was when he caught a trout off the back of his own property, using a fishing road that he had fashioned himself, and a lure that he had designed and made with his own hands. Southern Light Vineyards is an endeavour all the greater than catching a single fish, of course, but suffice to say: it all runs deeper when every step is your own decision, and your own investment.

In other words, this is the first time that this significant wine and food family has gone for absolute gold in a wine production sense. It’s got legacy written all over it.

"We really value aspect," Fikkers says. "Southern Light Vineyards is all about aspect. It’s about light, morning light. I wouldn’t say that we value aspect above everything else but it is really important to us. It’s important for quality, but it’s also important for style. We value morning sun rather than hot afternoon sun. The vineyard at Main Ridge, for instance, is in total shade from about 3.30pm onwards."