This is a more substantial tasting note than the parsimonious offering of 2000 characters that Instagram allows. First some wine making information from the wine maker Andy Williams.
‘Holly Maree’ 2023 Reserve Chardonnay
Wine Making Info from Andy
Handpicked. Received at winery Baume was 12.5 and pH 3.51. Crushed and destemmed, cold settled, racked to another tank for fermentation with a indigenous Burgundian Yeast.
Racked to barrels at around 3.0 Baume to finish fermentation. 9 French oak Barrels of which three were new. These new barrels are known as composite and are a mix of Oak and Acacia, around 50% each. Acacia works really well on Chardonnay and Viognier, and seems to amplify the aroma and flavour. 0.15g/L residual sugar at the end of fermentation. The wine was also co-inoculated for malolactic fermentation, so there will be some mouthfeel providing a more luscious sensation. 7 months all up in oak. The finished wine resulted in an alcohol of 13.5% and pH of 3.41. This wine was made in a style to make a statement!
Andy’s Tasting Note:
This premium Chardonnay is meticulously crafted in the cool climate of high-altitude Granite Belt. This exceptional vintage embodies the epitome of refinement and complexity.
The aroma unfurls with grace, offering an enticing bouquet of fresh apple pie and ripe pears, delicately kissed by hints of toasted oak. Subtle vanilla and a whisper of buttered brioche add an enchanting layer of depth.
It has an exquisite balance of vibrant acidity and creamy texture. The palate is adorned with flavours of crisp green apples, juicy white peaches, and a touch of citrus zest, perfectly interwoven with the creaminess imparted by the malolactic fermentation. The gentle caress of French oak emerges, offering notes of toasted almonds and a subtle hint of dried figs. It glides across the palate with a luxurious, satin-like mouthfeel, generously coating the taste buds and leaves a lingering and enduring finish.
My Tasting Note:
An interesting new local Chardonnay from the Ballandean Region. Very pretty in the glass with lots of light gold hues and glowing with exceedingly bright reflective dancing radiance. Also interesting to experience the effect of Acacia on Chardonnay, this wine is different in a way I truly appreciate. Andy believes the lovely ripe bitter apricot I detect is from the Acacia but the transitions in this wine are remarkable and especially the way that all the flavours and mouthfeel are conjointly folded into each other.
As soon as you encounter the bouquet you know that this is a deep brooding wine. There is an entire complex of a myriad of stone fruits but each one is collocated with the others so the initial redolences say, ‘I’m everything and no particular thing come with me and discover’, and this sets the intrigue. There are also pears, a little vanilla oak and some brioche.
The mouthfeel continues the bouquets promise as it is subtly mouth-filling, delicacy and precision are on display with a vinous tessellation of creaminess and acidity. Ripe yellow flesh peaches with both stone and pith foreground a more subtle nectarine presence and some viscosity is added by a slight ripe poached pear and this is delicately juxtaposed with some nuttiness and a little crispy apple feel on your taste buds. There is less subtlety in the apricot flavours which infuse some genuine ripe bitter experiences and this is also somewhat true on the bouquet. The apricots may have been in the presence of some yellow lemons, and their zest, for a short while but the effect was small, time spent with grapefruits had a little more influence. The acid exerts some energetic drive in an undeviating straight line along your taste buds and the finish has some puckering bitterness as it flows along a mineral substrate. The oak is present but well judged as it allows all the other aspects of the wine to present themselves with some genuine but respectful zeal while introducing its own gentle creamy palatal massages. This wine has a lot to offer, it will develop into a lovely and exciting mouth coating chardonnay and likely cellar for 10+ years.
Tasted: Friday 2nd August, 2024 without food and then with over several hours.
Alcohol: 13.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Price: ? Not yet released
Suggested Drinking Window: From release – 2033+
Winemaker: Andy Williams
Fruit Source: Estate
Oak: Composite Barrels 50% French Oak, 50% Acacia
Residual Sugar: 0.15 g/L
pH: 3.51
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