A deep straw colour with some golden glints and slight green hues, those skins must have been pretty ripe which you would expect from the 2018 vintage, makes me wonder what the 2019 will look like!
A pithy apricot thing asserts it’s early dominance on the bouquet but there is no coup de gras here as grapefruit and citrus fruits march into the fray with some confidence and delivering a sherbet like tang to your aromatic senses.
This wine has spent some time in barrel so there is a textural creaminess but this is not it’s signature. Instead that textural palatal feel floats on a lovely fresh straight line of acid which, in itself, contains a tingling mingling of limes and lemons, grapefruit, yellow flesh peaches and nectarines a little background apricot and some late fine mineralogy. The palate is long and refreshing, powerfully pleasing but not over-assertive as the wine engages you with congeniality. We knew many years ago that The granite Belt can produce exceptional chardonnay and this is a definite affirmative yes to that fact. My go to white wine is dry Australian riesling but, have to say, I could easily drink way too much of this chardonnay.
We paired this wine with an organic free range chicken cooked in a sauce of garlic, ginger, fresh coriander, fresh chilli, a little turmeric, balsamic vinegar, kalamata olives and fresh shiitake mushrooms. This dish and the chardonnay just fell deeply in love!
Tasted: Sunday 6th December, 2020 without food and then with over several hours.
Alcohol: 13%
Closure: Screwcap
Price: $35
Suggested Drinking Window: now to 2031
Winemaker: John Handy
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