This is a wine with a big, thick, complex bouquet which is expressed by a multiplexing aggregation of flavours on the palate. If you like your chardonnays clean and pristine with straight lines through the palate then venture here with some timidity!
Other winemakers I talk to on The Granite Belt readily acknowledge that Peter McGlashan has done a lot to raise the profile of Granite Belt Chardonnay, for me this effort totally bypasses the next level and instead catapults itself into unknown territory somewhere beyond that. The quite extraordinary vintage conditions have produced a young chardonnay that already has golden hues, skin colours must have been deeper and darker than usual. The bouquet isn’t subtle, so fragrant or redolent seem to be understated descriptors rather it’s a kind of take no prisoners invasion. There are some initial sherbet notes on the nose that are immediately dispersed by an array of unapologetic stone fruits which seem to bounce up and down rather energetically on a quite pithy and almost sour trampoline. Given the thrust of this extroverted self-introduction there should be no surprise when you encounter a palate exuding peaches, nectarines, off sweet nashi pears, ripe red apples, some collocation of sweet-sour lemony rinds, a late burst of grapefruit and a pithy stone fruity sourness that simultaneously caresses and smacks the top of your tongue in a prolongation of a most enthusiastic gestural farewell. The acid isn’t crisp or racy, it is fresh enough to drive the wine but manages to pitch itself somewhere between racy and fruit power the outcome of which is some enjoyable but not really strong textural mouthfeel in the wine, instead the working bilateral respect of these two components is what expresses itself here.
Wow, some self-discipline is required … is that bottle actually empty … already!!
Tasted: Saturday 29th August, 2020 without food and then with over several hours.
Alcohol: ? – not yet released
Closure: Screwcap
Price: Not yet released
Suggested Drinking Window: from release for 10 years +
Winemaker: Peter McGlashan
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