This Pack contains 1 bottle each of the following wines..

2019 Cardinia Ranges Chardonnay

This was the first white wine made under the Nikau label. We made 135 bottles of it and It was never released.

At the time I did’nt think it looked composed enough to release as one of the first Nikau releases ever so I put it away for “a bit” and went on with other releases and apparently, forgot about it. It wasn’t until a recent tatsting event at Cathedral Coffee in Melbourne that I grabbed a magnum out of our farm cellar which only had a Nikau front label on it and nothing else. Long story short, after a bit of hard thinking I realised it was the long forgotten Cardinia Ranges Chardonnay… And golly was it a revelation !

The wine is now (6 years on) a thing of absolute beuaty. Poised, refined and so expressive. The Cardina Ranges vineyard was one that Hannah and I leased and farmed for 4 years. It was one of the first vineyards we farmed in fact. Nestled in the Cardinia Ranges (obviously) the soil, if you can call it that is comprised entirely of Granite, it’s actually more like sand, Granite sand. Super fast draining and heavily laden with minerals it produced exceptionally elegant, minerally-structured wines and this Chardonnay is a testament to that. It’s Incredibly expressive and edgy. No round, buttery notes insight. It has a lot of similarities to the Tonimbuk Chardonnay, which is also grown on Granite soils. There’s something magical about Chardonnay and Granite, and here it is ! raised in glass Demijohn. A truly eclectic and singular wine. I’m very glad this was un-earthed :

2022 Home Block Pinot

The 2022 was a profound wine upon release, and still one of my favourite Nikau pinots. I recently pulled a bottle from the cellar and had it over the course of a night (abnout 6 hours) and it kind of shocked me a bit. It kept evolving and developing more and more over that time, becoming so silky and so complex. When released this wine had a small amount of gas present. This is something I strive for in the wines as it shows they have not been “knocked around” post fermentation and offers a level of natural protection throughout that process. The wine still shows a small amount of this upon opening and I strongly suggest putting it in a decanter for 30 mins before starting to drink it. And then sit back and enjoy the journey ! I was so very impressed with where this wine is now which is why it’s included here in this cellar release.

2024 Gippsland ‘Ceramic’ Chardonnay

This wine is included mostly because it’s one of the shining lights of the recent releases. It tickes all the boxes for me. And also because I think it’s a really nice thing to see one of the Nikau Chardonnay’s in it’s youth alongside the oldest Nikau Chardonnay’s that has been laying down resting for 6 years :)