From the Winery

The Brand's Laira Blockers range was created as a tribute to founder Eric Brand, one of the original 'Blockers' of the Coonawarra region. Blockers was the name given to the original Coonawarra land holders who sold their grapes to larger wineries in the mid-1900. The Blockers range is characterised by balanced and rich flavours, the Chardonnay and Shiraz are new to the range and are definitely worth a try!

Their Blockers Chardonnay displays fresh and vibrant aromas of nectarine and white peach complemented by cashew nut oak from barrel fermentation and maturation. On the palate rich, ripe melon and stone fruit characters are prominent. These flavours are accompanied by creamy nutty oak characters balanced with refreshing acidity. The finish is long with lingering fruit flavours. Can be cellared for 2-3 years but why would you want to wait to drink this stunning Chardonnay

Winter rainfall in 2016 was below average, but sufficient for moisture levels in the soil pro le pre budburst. The growing season was also very dry, delivering only half the normal rainfall. Vintage 2016 was early due to warm October weather, but despite the early season, the fruit had adequate time to develop tannins and complexity. Excellent November weather led to good and even fruit set, with higher yields than the preceding years. Moderate temperatures and weather through January to March delivered an extended ripening period and plenty of time for development of flavour and colour. Whites have good natural acidities and varietal flavours, whilst the reds all have outstanding colour and tannins facilitated by a very even veraison, small berry size, and milder ripening conditions later in vintage.

Fruit was harvested in the cool hours of the early morning and immediately pressed to conserve the delicate flavours. Only the high-quality free run juice portion was utilised to make this wine. Fermentation was initiated in stainless steel tanks; after partially fermenting the juice in tank it was then transferred to fine grained French oak barrels (22% new) to complete fermentation. The wine was kept on yeast lees and matured in barrel for a total of 9 months. The barrels were individually assessed and then blended to produce the final wine which was lightly fined then filtered before bottling.