The Carters first planted grapevines on their Marybrook property in the the 1890's, and this Chardonnay is a continuation of their methods: ungrafted, unirrigated, and hand-picked. It is the daily brisk sea breezes and very cool overnight temperature that keeps these vines unstressed and their fruit fresh and pure. The terroir is a dark red loam over deep gravel, the site of a very ancient riverbank. In 2009 the Chardonnay was picked entirely on Thursday the 19th of February, and pressed as whole bunches, with no additions at any stage of winemaking. Four individual barrel ferments meant it was very difficult to say when the wine was "dry", however maturation in old oak barrels continued unhurried for almost for a year, before bottling directly. Two years of bottle ageing before release.