Originally a mechanical engineer Rick Kinzbrunner started planting Giaconda Vineyard almost on a whim but maybe with good instinctive judgement in 1982 after falling in love with Beechworth . After 7 vintages in California, one in New Zealand & two in France he released a miniscule quantity of Cabernet in 1985 & the first Chardonnay in 1986. Winemaking has always been highly traditional with early use of natural yeast & unfiltered wines & Giaconda now has organic certification.
Rick makes the wines he likes to drink himself so the wines here have never been slaves to fashion. Only a traditional basket press is used,always 100% malolactic fermentation, aged underground in small barrels, the wines are moved & bottled by gravity without filtration.
The Chardonnay reflects the terroir with length, power & minerality, the soil being decomposed granite & clay, the aspect being a cool southerly slope at 430 MT altitude.
