August 26, 2020 - A bit of a higher price point compared to recent vintages, but also very tough to find on the market. Popped and decanted for about an hour. Pours really deep golden in the glass and shines with aromas of melon, yellow apple, lemon tart, just ripe pineapple and a solid dosage of French oak. Palate is zippy, but I have a feeling that the grip on this is slowly loosening. The oak is still big, but the fruit concentration is on the weaker side and has trouble keeping up. That shows on the finish the most, where the wine starts fading into green, thin fruit notes without that bright acid from the beginning. A good wine nonetheless, but I would give it 2-3 more years tops.
June 28, 2020 - Drank this last week with much anticipation...*However* it didn't start off well at all. Decanted it, but straight away it just smelled a little 'off and the little sample I swirled tasted the same and I was greatly disappointed. I had a couple of 2012's as well, so I left the 10 in the decanter 'just in case' and decanted the 12 as well. In complete contrast, that smelled great as I was pouring and the taste was good but felt like time in the decanter was just going to make it better. I bottled it up again 1/2 an hour later as we were taking it out for dinner. More on that wine in another Note. When we got home, so about 3 hours after first pour, the 10 had *completely* changed. It was almost bright, like a person emerging from COVID isolation and finally able to hug someone again. It was fantastic. Lemon curds and a bit of honeysuckle, long and fresh but with the oak bones clearly showing the maturity of what a really top flight team can do when they are able to channel superb fruit and expensive oak treatment. I'm just glad I kept it 'just in case' :)
Moral of the story - don't judge a really aged, first class chardonnay by your first impressions...If you have one get it open, let it sit for quite a while, and then enjoy fruits of the time you invested in keeping locked away.
April 25, 2020 - light yellow. Smells 3 year old, tastes 4 years old - the wonders of Stelvin plus a reductionist approach to winemaking. This is peach with a hint of grapefruit on the nose and touches of nougat. Reserved, still good high acid, clean fruit with peach/nougat/grapefruit, finishes super clean and acid upkick. Cross between a chablis and a white burgundy. For me I would have preferred it picked later but of course it would have been better earlier and by now fallen over if Vanya had done so. This is an aperitif wine, it would struggle with white meat or duck.
Consider Paul S and mine remarks on two ends of the stylistic spectrum of response for this wine.
April 12, 2020 - Screwcap, 13.5% alc.
Rather shy on the nose, dominated by grapefruit and cashew. There is also something faintly tropical, with some musk lollies in the background. Gentle matchstick complexity.
Power without weight in the mouth. Rounded, beautifully-balanced mouthfeel. It’s creamy but with appropriate acid support. Oak married perfectly with the fruit. Excellent length.
The wine builds and builds in the glass. I was almost through 1/3 of a bottle before I realised I should start taking notes. Begins to look worse for wear after Day 7, so don’t leave for too long after opening.
Opinion: Very lovely chardonnay. And very clever wine making. Could well age longer, however it’s drinking so well now – why wait? Good pairing with chicken shashlik.
December 8, 2017 - Lunch at Cullen Winery (Cullen, Margaret River): A really nice expression - this was almost Burgundian in proportions. The nose had a little layer of white chocolate and vanilla alongside white flowers, melon fruit and a little twang of saline stone. Attractive, but it was on the palate where it really sang though. Drinking perfectly well now, it showed more of that succulent melon fruit first suggested on the nose, alongside a nice lift of citrusy fingerling limes, and then an underlining of stony minerality. This had a lovely fresh balance and liveliness to it, all the way from its sunny attack, through its nicely weighty midpalate, and into a long, nicely defined finish. A really accomplished new world Chardonnay. Lovely stuff that was drinking very nicely on the day.
February 2, 2017 - I kinda expected more from this wine. I get the feeling it was probably better a few years ago. It's certainly lively and minerally with flavours of grapefruit, lemon, peach and hit of vanilla. There's a floral note on the nose too. But it seemed to be lacking a bit of complexity and fruit depth and it wasn't that long on the palate. Still very enjoyable but I was just left wanting a bit more.
July 9, 2016 - Greeny gold. Nose a little muted...some kind of ripe melon, and toasted cashews. Palate fantastic: very long, tingly. From the first mouthful this strikes me as a top class wine. But is it a £60 wine? Screwcap, 13.5%.
April 3, 2016 - We last sipped this Oz Chard one year ago, and we admittedly made a mistake doing so AFTER the Giaconda. We did not err this time. The wine stepped up! Twinkling yellow gold on the eye. Vibrant citrus and tropical fruit aromas. Well-balanced toasty oak and cream. Palate is rich and round with perfectly balanced fruit, acidity and oak. Smooth, elegant and reasonably long finish. A winner!!!
March 22, 2015 - Dark yellow, nice nose, tiny oak, citrus, candy-like, decent wine, but not great. Hard to sip this one after the Giaconda.
May 10, 2014 - Dom Perignon without the bubbles. Then very lemony as temperature increased. Excellent.