Payten & Jones, Valley Vignerons Series Chardonnay

Pale straw in colour with green hues. The bouquet is expressive showing aromas of struck match, creamy lees and vanilla notes lifted by fresh citrus – ripe grapefruit and Meyer lemon. The palate, very clean mouthfeel with flavours of buttered toast, grapefruit and lemon. A rich textual element with freshness on the finish.

Behn (Payten) and Troy (Jones) are two Healesville High School Graduates producing minimal intervention wines in the Yarra Valley. Behn’s dad Pete runs the vineyard side of things and has a long history working in organic vineyards and takes the philosophy into the vineyard. The Payten and Jones home block is in the upper elevations of the Yarra Valley and planted exclusively to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The home block is dry grown, a rarity in the Yarra Valley which means a crop is not guaranteed every vintage. We reckon drinking these wines is like experiencing a band live, as opposed to listening to a studio recorded track.There’s minimal intervention, a bit of ‘raw’ processes, and nothing filtered or cleaned up in any way. The wines aren’t 'squeaky clean', they are a bit 'edgy', even a bit 'raw'.