I normally go nuts for this wine but not on this occasion. Still v good and there are plenty of notes below describing what you might hope to find but this one lacked the sheer World Beater status that previous vintages had. Has it gone past it best..or have I?
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Quite exotic on the nose: tropical fruit, ripe pear, but also a fresh lifted mineral quality & some herbs (sage?). Full and round on the palate, but with nice supporting acidity and a little bitter kick of mineral bitterness on the finish. A quite ripe and exotic incarnation of Giaconda but still delicious and drinking really well.
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JB and SH for dinner: Screw cap. Light gold appearance. Peach, tropical fruits, banana, hazelnut. Seemed a bit over-blown? Palate was rich with not much definition. Had its admirers around the table though.
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Very nice. Fresh and pure nose of matchstick and peaches. Crisp and clean acidity. Great price and paired nicely with the scarmoza and squid pasta. Was still decent on day 2
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Special lunch party - best of Australia vs France (Ravensdale Farm): So different to last tasting. Wine fresh and bright in the glass. A enticing mix of delicacy and power & minerality and sweetness. Flowers and lychee with an edge of tropical fruit or apricot. Beautifully balanced.
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Blind. High reduction, spices and lemon, intense and serious nose; Less tight and impressive in the mouth, sweet fruit, silky, some bitterness in the finish.
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Rich and outgoing, vibrant golden colour, unctuous on the palate. Deeply flavoured, struck match, ripe stone fruits and oak, so much going on but it all works and I really love the explosion of flavour. In a lovey drinking window for me.
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OZ & NZ Chardonnay Lunch (Grappa Leichhardt): Served with the Leeuwin Estate. Pale golden colour. Smoke and toasty oak at first as this wine needs air to shown itself. Rich palate, more complexity and development but less freshness than the LE, maybe even a little shut down? Later and there’s now gunflint, struck match, white peach and hazelnuts. Later, later and there’s also smoke-tinged honey and bacon fat. This is an eccentric wine that needs lots of air time to show itself. Fabulous quality. Needs a long decant.
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Appearance: Bright and clear, the wine is of light lemon-green colour, with wide watery rims and legs. Nose: Clean, with medium (+) intensity aromas of citrus fruit of lemon, tropical fruit of melon, autolytic notes of brioche, stone fruit of peach, floral notes of blossom, oak notes of vanilla, mineral notes of stony, sweet spice of ginger, maturity notes of honey. The wine is developing. Palate: Dry with medium (+) acidity, the wine has medium alcohol, with medium body and pronounced intensity flavours of citrus fruit of lemon, stone fruit of peach, kernel notes of popcorn, mineral notes of stony, oak notes of vanilla. The wine has a medium (+) finish. Conclusion: Very good quality Australian Chardonnay with an intense nose showing great complexity, with plenty of different aromas ranging from citrus to melon, stone fruit and floral, with lots of vanilla and brioche, supplemented with a nice minerality and ginger. The wine has good vibrancy, having nice acidity and good balance, with also nice concentrated flavours and a fairly long finish. It is ready to drink now and can further develop for another 4-6 years.
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This is insane quality right here. Wow. Deep golden in the glass. The nose is a drug - melon, pineapple, brioche, vanilla, caramel. Abundant. Then you swirl and sip. Just a blast of goodness all the way from start to finish - acid is there, concentration is there, balance is on point. Young, needs some time to integrate, but what a complete wine this is. Stunning, stunning stuff. Can't beat Victoria in the Australian Chardonnay game.
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Cellar tasting (Cologne): Glass: Gabriel Standard *** brief notes for my memory, no official CT rating *** Popped and poured, tasted blind. Impressive nose with lots of popcorn. Full bodied, impressive Chardonnay. Great depth and length, lots of well-integrated oak. Very long. So surprised that this is from down under. Still very young. Needs time. 92-93+
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A very special wine. Albeit slightly unusual experience. On opening tasted like a superb complex evolved 10yr aged Chardonnay even the colour was tinged gold - full round and viscous. Superb but unexpected for a 2016 wine. The next evening the wine had freshened, tightened but still had beautiful balance and ethereal complexity. Honey, melon, oatmeal, apricot and even a teasing citric and minerality back story.
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First poured blind to professional tasters and they were amazed by the sheer elegance and utmost quality of this Beechworth beauty. Could not blame anyone who would place this on a beautiful Meursault level. It can still age beautifully but was drunk with great pleasure by amateurs as well.
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Nuts, stone fruit, ginger spice. Palate has balance and texture and length. Very moreish. Seemed to settle in to itself after 30 minutes or so. As in it was less spicy and showy. Very good.
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Langton's VII masterclass with Andrew Caillard MW (W Hotel Guangzhou): The nose came screaming out of the glass. Ginger, mixed nuts and oak spice, peaches and apricots at the start. on the palate this was very long and balanced. Pineapple, peaches, cashew and hazelnuts beautiful balance and refreshing acidity. it shut down a little over the tasting and became a bit more reserved, but this is really an excellent wine, delicious now and no doubt in the future.
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3/24/2024 - Sonoffalstaff Likes this wine: 92 Points
I normally go nuts for this wine but not on this occasion. Still v good and there are plenty of notes below describing what you might hope to find but this one lacked the sheer World Beater status that previous vintages had. Has it gone past it best..or have I?
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3/8/2024 - jamesabdavis wrote:
Quite exotic on the nose: tropical fruit, ripe pear, but also a fresh lifted mineral quality & some herbs (sage?).
Full and round on the palate, but with nice supporting acidity and a little bitter kick of mineral bitterness on the finish.
A quite ripe and exotic incarnation of Giaconda but still delicious and drinking really well.
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4/4/2023 - Raizes Likes this wine: 89 Points
橡木桶带来的、厚重的香草、芝士、甜奶油和白花蜂蜜气息,与清冷的柠檬、柑橘果香各自为战,欠缺统一性和一体感。酸度不算太高,但存在感略显突兀,连带着让整款酒都呈现出一种不够融合的年轻叛逆气质。质地细腻,集中度出色,优点与缺点共存,继续陈年可能会有更好表现。89-90
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3/11/2023 - fizz wrote:
JB and SH for dinner: Screw cap.
Light gold appearance. Peach, tropical fruits, banana, hazelnut. Seemed a bit over-blown? Palate was rich with not much definition. Had its admirers around the table though.
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8/17/2022 - WKC Likes this wine: 92 Points
Very nice. Fresh and pure nose of matchstick and peaches. Crisp and clean acidity. Great price and paired nicely with the scarmoza and squid pasta. Was still decent on day 2
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11/28/2021 - nwebstar Likes this wine: 94 Points
Special lunch party - best of Australia vs France (Ravensdale Farm): So different to last tasting. Wine fresh and bright in the glass. A enticing mix of delicacy and power & minerality and sweetness. Flowers and lychee with an edge of tropical fruit or apricot. Beautifully balanced.
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6/20/2021 - LWI wrote: 94 Points
Blind. High reduction, spices and lemon, intense and serious nose; Less tight and impressive in the mouth, sweet fruit, silky, some bitterness in the finish.
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6/5/2021 - deverett wrote: 93 Points
Rich and outgoing, vibrant golden colour, unctuous on the palate. Deeply flavoured, struck match, ripe stone fruits and oak, so much going on but it all works and I really love the explosion of flavour. In a lovey drinking window for me.
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5/21/2021 - Geoff7777 wrote:
OZ & NZ Chardonnay Lunch (Grappa Leichhardt): Served with the Leeuwin Estate. Pale golden colour. Smoke and toasty oak at first as this wine needs air to shown itself. Rich palate, more complexity and development but less freshness than the LE, maybe even a little shut down? Later and there’s now gunflint, struck match, white peach and hazelnuts. Later, later and there’s also smoke-tinged honey and bacon fat. This is an eccentric wine that needs lots of air time to show itself. Fabulous quality. Needs a long decant.
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2/3/2021 - peterchoy wrote: 94 Points
Appearance: Bright and clear, the wine is of light lemon-green colour, with wide watery rims and legs.
Nose: Clean, with medium (+) intensity aromas of citrus fruit of lemon, tropical fruit of melon, autolytic notes of brioche, stone fruit of peach, floral notes of blossom, oak notes of vanilla, mineral notes of stony, sweet spice of ginger, maturity notes of honey. The wine is developing.
Palate: Dry with medium (+) acidity, the wine has medium alcohol, with medium body and pronounced intensity flavours of citrus fruit of lemon, stone fruit of peach, kernel notes of popcorn, mineral notes of stony, oak notes of vanilla. The wine has a medium (+) finish.
Conclusion: Very good quality Australian Chardonnay with an intense nose showing great complexity, with plenty of different aromas ranging from citrus to melon, stone fruit and floral, with lots of vanilla and brioche, supplemented with a nice minerality and ginger. The wine has good vibrancy, having nice acidity and good balance, with also nice concentrated flavours and a fairly long finish. It is ready to drink now and can further develop for another 4-6 years.
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8/22/2020 - grapenomad wrote: 97 Points
This is insane quality right here. Wow. Deep golden in the glass. The nose is a drug - melon, pineapple, brioche, vanilla, caramel. Abundant. Then you swirl and sip. Just a blast of goodness all the way from start to finish - acid is there, concentration is there, balance is on point. Young, needs some time to integrate, but what a complete wine this is. Stunning, stunning stuff. Can't beat Victoria in the Australian Chardonnay game.
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6/9/2020 - NoTrollingerPlease Likes this wine:
Cellar tasting (Cologne): Glass: Gabriel Standard
*** brief notes for my memory, no official CT rating ***
Popped and poured, tasted blind. Impressive nose with lots of popcorn. Full bodied, impressive Chardonnay. Great depth and length, lots of well-integrated oak. Very long. So surprised that this is from down under. Still very young. Needs time. 92-93+
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2/16/2020 - fizz wrote:
Fleshy stone fruit, spice, honey. Rich and balanced with good intensity. Very moreish.
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12/7/2019 - nwebstar Likes this wine: 95 Points
A very special wine. Albeit slightly unusual experience. On opening tasted like a superb complex evolved 10yr aged Chardonnay even the colour was tinged gold - full round and viscous. Superb but unexpected for a 2016 wine. The next evening the wine had freshened, tightened but still had beautiful balance and ethereal complexity. Honey, melon, oatmeal, apricot and even a teasing citric and minerality back story.
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10/3/2019 - stadler Likes this wine:
First poured blind to professional tasters and they were amazed by the sheer elegance and utmost quality of this Beechworth beauty. Could not blame anyone who would place this on a beautiful Meursault level. It can still age beautifully but was drunk with great pleasure by amateurs as well.
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3/3/2019 - fizz wrote:
Nuts, stone fruit, ginger spice. Palate has balance and texture and length. Very moreish. Seemed to settle in to itself after 30 minutes or so. As in it was less spicy and showy. Very good.
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12/31/2018 - SimonPh Likes this wine: 96 Points
Wonderful benchmark chardonnay - already great complexity bu8t will develop further over many years.
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11/23/2018 - BigJ Likes this wine:
Langton's VII masterclass with Andrew Caillard MW (W Hotel Guangzhou): The nose came screaming out of the glass. Ginger, mixed nuts and oak spice, peaches and apricots at the start. on the palate this was very long and balanced. Pineapple, peaches, cashew and hazelnuts beautiful balance and refreshing acidity. it shut down a little over the tasting and became a bit more reserved, but this is really an excellent wine, delicious now and no doubt in the future.
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