Variety: Chardonnay
Country: Australia, Tasmania
2024 Chardonnay
The fruit was 100% whole-bunch pressed and inoculated with selected yeast. After settling for 24 hours, the juice was racked to François Frères puncheons, 25% of which were new oak, for fermentation. Primary fermentation lasted 25 days, followed by full malolactic fermentation. The wine underwent eight months of élevage in oak without any lees stirring. Bottled unfined but filtered.
12.5 % Alc/Vol; 3.29 pH; 7.8 g/L TA.
NB: Chardonnay from Bremley was for many years, a key component of Penfold’s Yattarna.
Review for 2023 vintage:
‘A romp through a field of white flowers, biting into green apples, slugging backlemon barley water and breathing in the sea spray on a breeze. It’s almost obscenelyracy, a thrill ride of invigorating acidity. Bracingly fresh, incredibly long.Chardonnay that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.’ 96 points, Nick Ryan, The Weekend Australian, May 2024.

Bremley Vineyard is the northern most vineyard in Tasmania’s Coal River Valley. Originally planted with 2 hectares of Chardonnay in the early 2000s, the property was acquired byJames and Vanessa Bresnehan in 2008. Since then they have added Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc and Gamay to the mix, increasing the vineyard area to its current 13 hectares.
The fruit was sold to other wine producers until a certain point when James and Vanessa were overtaken by the urge to create some iconic single vineyard wines. Teaming up with acclaimed winemakers Justin Bubb and Anna Pooley, the first Bremley wines were released in 2021.
The site itself is unique, with the vineyard laying beneath Gunnings Surgarloaf in a natural amphitheater protected from brutal summer north-westerly winds. Days during the growing season are long and warm, with the nights being cool due to the distance from moderating ocean influences. Site soils are mainly black cracking clays intermixed with dolerite.
Bremley is operated with a hands on approach. Both James and Vanessa manage the day to day running of the vineyard, which is based around a sustainable outlook, now and into the future.