# Wayfinder Chardonnay (2025)

- **Producer:** Wayfinder
- **Colour:** white
- **Type:** still
- **Grapes:** Chardonnay
- **Region:** Western Australia, Australia
- **Style:** Classic
- **Alcohol:** 13.0%
- **Average price:** €25
- **Vegan:** No
- **Contains sulphites:** Yes
- **When to drink:** Now or Later
- **Serving temperature:** 10–12 °C
- **Aromas & flavours:** quince, lemon, grapefruit, apple, butter, toast, biscuit, vanilla

## About this wine

Wayfinder is one of Margaret River's most ecologically advanced destinations, operating under the sustainable Overstory wine collective. Designed by Fremantle's Kerry Hill Architects, the winery is entirely off-grid and built directly into a former turkey-nest dam to naturally regulate cellar temperature. The estate operates as a complete, biodiverse farm where organic vineyards thrive alongside a market garden, orchards, free-roaming sheep, chickens, and active beehives. The facility is entirely gravity-fed, meaning the wine moves without mechanical pumping, preserving its delicate structural integrity.

## Interesting facts

- The winery is entirely off-grid and built into a former turkey-nest dam to naturally regulate cellar temperature.
- The estate is gravity-fed, allowing wine to move without mechanical pumping to preserve its delicate structure.
- The vineyard achieved official Australian Certified Organic status in 2022 and is regeneratively farmed.

## Food pairing

The high natural acidity and medium-bodied texture of this Chardonnay make it exceptionally versatile. It cuts through the richness of buttery sauces and roasted poultry, while its subtle oak integration and phenolic texture complement grilled pork and oily fish like salmon or tuna without overpowering them.

## Wine making process

Sourced from a single organic estate block planted in 2003 in Wilyabrup, the grapes are hand-harvested early to protect natural acidity. The fruit is whole-bunch-pressed to tank to isolate high-quality free-run juice. Following overnight settling, the juice is racked into French oak barriques with a portion of light, fluffy lees returned to enhance depth. Fermentation is initiated by wild yeasts at cool temperatures. The wine is matured for 10 months in French oak barriques (10% new) with occasional bâtonnage to build texture before a light filtration and bottling.