Garagiste Le Stagiaire Chardonnay 2025

Garagiste Le Stagiaire Chardonnay is a Mornington Peninsula Chardonnay blended across four vineyards.

Blending across sites is the point of this label. The 2025 draws thirty-five per cent from Merricks, thirty from Merricks North, twenty-five from Balnarring and ten from Tuerong, which spreads the risk of any one season and lets each vineyard fill a gap the others leave. Merricks North, planted in 1996 in brown loam close to the flagship Merricks Grove, is the most recent addition. Handling is identical every year: sorted twice, whole-bunch pressed to 500-litre puncheons, wild fermented with no temperature control, seven months on lees, a couple of barrels through malolactic, ten per cent new oak.

Fresh and tightly drawn, with grapefruit, white peach and a chalky mineral line, the oak invisible and the finish saline. Eleven degrees. Try it with oysters, grilled whiting, chicken and tarragon, or a plate of prosciutto and melon.

*Every effort is made to ensure the current vintage is accurate; however, variations can occur. If you are after a specific vintage, please contact us prior to ordering.