DCB Wine
Chris Bendle is a boutique Yarra Valley producer of small batch premium Chardonnay and Pinot Noir aiming for excellent value above all.
Read about DCB Wine’s Chardonnay and Pinot Noir below.
DCB website.
DCB Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2019
Vineyard:
E Block, Lone Star Creek Vineyard
Varietal: 2019 SV Chardonnay
Clone: E Block Chardonnay
Bernard Selection 76 & 95, on 101-14 root stock – Vines planted in 2007. Sourced solely from Lone Star Creek Vineyard, Upper Yarra Valley. E Block is planted on red volcanic clay.u00a0
Fruit picked on 6 March, 2019
Receival Analysis: Baume: 12.8, pH: 3.21
Winemaking:
Winemaker: Chris Bendle
Process: 100% whole bunch pressed to tank, racked after 24 hours to one new demi-muid (600l oak barrel).
Yeast – Ferment started naturally after approx 7 days and proceeded steadily with daily stirring until dry.
MLF % – Random
Maturation: SO2 added at the end of May and then the wine was left until January when it was racked to tank.
Settled in tank, seeded with bentonite, racked, filtered and bottled.
Vegan friendly: Yes.
13% alc/vol; Approx. 7.6 standard drinks
reviews:
Campbell Mattison, The Wine Front: 93 points.
Single vineyard chardonnay from the Lone Star Creek vineyard at Woori Yallock.
Straw into yellow in colour terms but it remains fresher than a daisy. That said, there’s a lot going on here. It’s a flinty, pear-faced, nectarine-driven chardonnay with green olive and white peach characters punching through to a chalk-laced finish. There’s cedarwood here too, fully integrated, along with lime notes; almost into lime spider territory, though neatly tucked. It’s a lovely wine. Beautiful.
DCB Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2019
Vineyard:
A Block, Lone Star Creek Vineyard
2018 Chardonnay
Clone: A Block Pinot Noir
MV6 – Vines planted in 2007 Sourced solely from Lone Star Creek Vineyard, Upper Yarra Valley. A Block is planted on red volcanic clay.
Fruit picked on 6 March, 2019
Receival analysis: Baume: 13.0, pH: 3.35
Winemaking:
Winemaker: Chris Bendle
Process: Left to chill for 24 hours, then crushed and into a stainless steel fermenter.
Yeast – After 2 days chilling, the grapes were inoculated with RC212 yeast and ferment commenced.
MLF % – 100%
Maturation – The wine was pressed to barrel (20% new) to complete MLF after approx. 3 weeks on skins. No additions were made until SO2 was added at the end of June.
The wine was racked to tank in January, racked again and bottled. No filtering.
Preservatives – SO2 at bottling
Vegan friendly: Yes.
13.5% alc/vol; Approx. 8 standard drinks
reviews:
Campbell Mattison, The Wine Front: 94 points.
From the oldest vines on the Lone Star Creek vineyard at Woori Yallock.
What we have here is a brooding pinot noir that may well fail to communicate its real strengths if you open it now but which has an excellent cellaring future ahead. This is a wine with presence if not so much prettiness; a wine rolled with tannin and tucked with spice; a wine with red liquorice and chicory riven into red cherry and cedar. It requires some coaxing, let’s say, but its quality is clear and in any case its charms fan out with air.