Viticulture

The Chardonnay grapes used in the production of this wine are sourced from contracted growers in the northern Margaret
River region. We pick small parcels earlier than the remaining fruit used to make our still table wines, principally to maintain the
higher natural fruit acidity necessary for quality sparkling wine. These small parcels are required to be handpicked to reduce
phenolic extraction from broken berry skins.

Winemaking

The Chardonnay fruit is gently pressed off skins with a series of press fractions going to separate holding tanks for later assessment. The juice is settled bright and fermented cold with a neutral yeast strain in stainless steel. No malolactic fermentation takes place, so as to obtain a finer, tighter acid structure. The wine was then bottled on the 23rd of May 2016 with a dose of active yeast and sugar (known as ‘tirage’) to encourage the secondary ferment. The bottle ferment lasts approximately six weeks after which the tirage sparkling wine rests in storage for four years gaining complexity from contact with the yeast lees. When deemed to be balanced and with sufficient autolysis character, we send the bottles for riddling and disgorging where the yeast plug is removed and the cork inserted. This wine was disgorged on the 7th of July 2020.

Storage / Bottling

The unique nature of this sparkling wine is that bottling occurs as part of the winemaking process early in the wine’s life. In the
case of the Georgette, the final disgorging and packaging process occurs four years after the wine is first put to bottle. Heavy
grade sparkling glass, stylish labeling and the traditional white hood of the Forester brand complete the elegant package.