Aussie Chard icon, PATRICK SULLIVAN

Patrick Sullivan

Is a farmer first, winemaker second. He and his lovely partner Megan farm wine in the Strezleki Ranges of the Baw Baw Shire, 90km east of Melbourne in the Gippsland region of Victoria.

Since his first eponymous wines began appearing in 2010, Pat’s been growing some of the most precious and unique Chardonnay in Australia. It may seem that Patrick Sullivan suddenly emerged as a brilliant and particularly individual winemaker overnight but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Pat studied, travelled and worked hard in unrecognized roles for years before entering the spotlight.

Sullivan began working in vineyards at the age of twelve, his interest piqued by an excursion on a school camp to a winery that soon turned into a summer job. His mother would drive Sullivan and his friends to Echuca, a town in northern regional Victoria located on the banks of the Murray River, where they would plant and work amidst the vines.

But it wasn’t until after moving to London at the age of 19 to work in some “very refined” wine stores that Sullivan decided to return to Adelaide to study at Australia’s most lauded viticultural program.

A note on the unique terroir of Bill & Pat’s vineyards: the soils are basalt over sandstone! With big chunks of parent rock still present in the volcanic soils. Moreover, their land is overlain with little creeks, streams, and an aquifer with exceptionally pure water. And adding even greater nuance and biodiversity, the property is surrounded by a buzzing native acacia forest.

After hand harvesting, Pat meticulously sorts his grapes before gently pressing and fermenting his hard-earned fruit with the indigenous yeasts of his fields and cellar, taking every effort to preserve and pedestal their terroir, their vintage, and their year’s work nurturing the vines. We much prefer this to the strong-arm approach, bending the wine into some kind of preconceived notion of style.

2020 PATRICK SULLIVAN - Baw Baw Shire Chardonnay

Fruit from Pat’s home vineyard.

A singular Chardonnay from 30 year old vines in the Baw Baw Shire of the Gippsland farmed biodynamically by Patrick Sullivan. A gorgeous aroma of fleshy peach, green apple skin, sea spray and lemon, all accompanied by a flinty minerality. On the palate, a wonderfully creamy texture bursting with ripe stone fruit and apple, melon and pineapple, lemon and lime zest, and a perfect hint of browned butter and vanilla bean, nuanced by a savoury salinity. Medium bodied, racy acidity, and a long finish where the beautifully integrated oak spice gets a chance to show off a bit alongside those hallmarks of volcanic soil: minerality, salinity, and a hint of smoke. A truly individual and complex Chardonnay of place, quite unlike any other—a mirror for Victoria’s bucolic terroir.

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