You'll see plenty of olive trees alongside the d'Arenberg roadsides, flourishing among the vines. McLaren Vale is littered with olive groves which were planted by the first settlers. While neighbouring table grape growers consider olive trees a nuisance, local winemakers are thankful for the bittersweet nuances which the tiny green stonefruits impart to the wine. Chester Osborn determines the critical time of picking his Chardonnay, which is treated to wild ferments and lees stirring, for a rich textural wine with savoury aromas and good palate complexity.

McLaren Vale makes buxom, fleshy white varietal wines of structure and balance. The Adelaide Hills yield a brisk style of Chardonnay with penetrating fruit characters and crisp stonefruit acidity. Under the insistence of chief winemaker Chester Osborn, each components is separately handled. Parcels are crushed and cold soaked on skins at 2C for a day prior to basket pressing, gentle extraction of juices are critical to retain delicate fruit characters. Batches are fermented and matured in a mixture of French and American oak for seven months, bottled immediately upon completion for optimal retention of fresh, natural acidity, so integral to the balance and longevity of the wine.