Tod and Debbie Dexter planted their vineyard at Merricks, in the southern Mornington Peninsula, in 1987. After years supplying fruit to Stonier, where Tod helped build the label's reputation, and a spell at Yabby Lake, he launched Dexter Wines under his own name in the mid-2000s. The vineyard sits on gently sloping ground with free-draining sandy loam over clay, farmed with an emphasis on low yields and hand tending. The Black Label is a selection made only in the strongest seasons. The 2024 growing season on the Peninsula was cool and even, allowing chardonnay to ripen slowly and retain the taut natural acidity the site is known for.

Fruit for the Black Label is hand-picked and whole-bunch pressed to preserve delicacy and limit phenolic pick-up. The juice is settled briefly then wild-fermented in French oak barriques, with a higher proportion of newer wood reserved for this cuvee. Malolactic fermentation is allowed to run, softening the acid line, and the wine is matured on its full lees with periodic stirring to build the flinty, nutty, savoury texture. Sulphides are handled deliberately to give the smoky, struck-match complexity seen in the wine. Bottled at around 13.5% alcohol after roughly ten to eleven months in barrel, unfined where possible.