Cockatoo Ridge Wines has moved into the premium sparkling wine market with the release of its Eleanora Non Vintage Sparkling Pinot Chardonnay.

The development of the Cockatoo Ridge Eleanora Non Vintage Sparkling Pinot Chardonnay has been some time in the making with Chief Winemaker, Roger Harbord, taking up the challenge after joining the company early this year.

As he explains: "This is a project the company has not moved into quickly or lightly.

"The mid-market sparkling wine sector is one of the strongest in the Australian wine industry and we believe that strength will continue to grow in the years ahead.

"While it is a very competitive market we believe we have produced a sparkling wine that will more than hold its own in a price segment that is expanding all the time."

Roger Harbord's first job was to select the premium fruit needed for the new blend.

This saw him look to the Adelaide Hills in South Australia and the King Valley in north-west Victoria for the fruit which would best suit the style we wanted.

The New Eleanora Non Vintage Sparkling Pinot Chardonnay

As Roger Harbord explains: "This is a stand-alone sparkling wine style - something we believe is unique to Cockatoo Ridge Wines.

"We selected small parcels of fruit from both the 2006 and 2007 vintages, with the Chardonnay fruit largely drawn from the King Valley and the Pinot Noir material largely from the Adelaide Hills.

In addition, we selected a small percentage of Pinot Meuniere fruit - around 10 per cent from the King Valley - to just add grater complexity and fruit balance to the resultant wine.

The blended wine was kept on tirage for over a year prior to disgorging and final bottling.

The result is an elegant sparkling wine displaying fine fruit flavours, a lovely mouth feel and a good acidic finish.

As Roger Harbord comments: "The Cockatoo Ridge Eleanora Non Vintage Sparkling Pinot Chardonnay is a lovely fruit-driven sparkling wine, with yeast only underlying the fruit, acidity and complexity of the wine.

"Colouring is a pale straw with light apple green highlights while the palate displays a hint of strawberries among its flavour with the fruit perfectly counter pointed by the acidity.

"The Pinot Noir component provides the red fruit flavours and structure, the Chardonnay provides us with the fruit and the elegance, while the Pinot Meuniere provides the richness and fruitiness. Importantly this is a wine style that that is both unique and in which the natural acidity in the wine is king."

The Price

The new Cockatoo Ridge Eleanora Non Vintage Sparkling Pinot Chardonnay is available in bottle shops and liquor stores for around $ ... per bottle.

Roger Harbord is available for further comment on Cockatoo Ridge 08 83048700