2024 Gentle Folk Scary Gully Chardonnay

Scary Gully is one of the most distinctive vineyards in the Adelaide Hills, a windswept ridge at 620 metres above sea level in Forest Range. Planted in 1984, it’s a site that always produces wines with incredible tension and precision -  and the 2024 Chardonnay is no exception.

The soils here are shallow and rocky, full of quartz and sandstone, which give this wine its trademark mineral edge. The 2024 season was mild but low-yielding, and what little fruit was picked has produced a Chardonnay of rare focus and intensity. It’s driven and pure, full of citrus, fennel, and white peach, underpinned by a line of savoury, stony grip that runs the length of the palate.

Whole-bunch pressed and wild fermented, the wine spent 11 months in French and Austrian oak (20% new) before resting in tank prior to bottling. It’s elegant but full of character - a perfect reflection of both the site and Gareth Belton’s thoughtful, restrained approach in the cellar.

96 points
"It has magnificent length and drive, and the brightness of fruit rings through the finish, echoing the sum of its parts. A beauty."
- Katrina Butler (Halliday Wine Companion)