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WINES
"Fine and elegant"
 2007
Cape Mentelle Chardonnay, Margaret River/Western Australia (13%) - light toast and milky yeast-lees notes vs juicy sweet fruit; quite crisp
cut adding a little elegance and length, although the oak is a tad toasty in the end.
85-87 £14.99
2005 William Fevre Chablis Grand Cru Preuses,
France (13%) - oily nutty and maturing nose vs quite tight and fresh palate; slightly odd
mix of oxidative nutty style vs herbal and zesty flavours, but it works.
87-89 £28.30
2007 Clairault Estate Chardonnay, Margaret/Western
Australia (13.5%) - creamier style, nice texture and weight vs again a touch of refreshing
bite and subtle length. 87-89 £17
2007 Cullen Kevin John Chardonnay (13.5%) - a bit too
clashingly sweet/sour.
£36
2008 Giant Steps Arthur's Creek Chardonnay,
Yarra/Victoria (12.5%) - attractive buttery style with hints of spicy toast; moving on to a greener-edged palate vs exotic and creamy, fat vs citrus finish.
88-90 £17
2008 Hamilton Russell Chardonnay, South
Africa (13%) - quite voluptuous and big to start although the finish is tighter and
smarter; buttery toasted notes with fair weight vs crisp bite.
88-90 £14.50
2006 Kooyong Estate Chardonnay,
Mornington/Victoria (13%) - vibrant greenish fruit vs buttery/creamy aromas; attractive fairly soft
mouthfeel with a touch of acidity adding liveliness and style, quite a bit of
oomph to finish. 87-89 £19
2006 Kumeu River Estate Chardonnay, New Zealand (13.5%) - similar profile showing buttery vs
greener fruit; nice oily mineral finish and Chablis-like elegance.
88-90 £20
2008 McHenry Hohnen Rocky Road Vineyard Chardonnay,
Margaret/Western Oz (13.5%) - more open, buttery and maturing vs a tad of bite and punch; appealing
subtle flavours on the finish. 87-89 £16.50
2006 Penfolds Bin 311 Chardonnay, New South
Wales (13.5%) - very attractive creamy/oily flavours and textures vs zestier edge; nice
hazelnut tones then intense mineral finish. 90-92 £17.99
2007 Robert Mondavi Woodbridge Chardonnay, California (13.5%) - lacks a bit of flavour perhaps, although has
a closed-up and mineral
finish? £8.16
2008 Shelmerdine Chardonnay, Victoria (12.5%?) - not revealing much at first, has a lightly toasty palate vs slightly bitter
acidity and clumsy finish. £12.99
2006 Tyrrell's Vat 47 Chardonnay, Hunter
Valley 12.5%) - not lacking in mouthfeel with sweet vs spicy vs creamy vs acid combo,
although doesn't really come together very well. 85 £21.99
"Rich and complex"
 2006
Bruno Colin Chassagne-Montrachet Morgeot, Burgundy/France (14%) - lightly volatile,
complex and nutty nose; elegant and maturing in a very different
oxidative style, builds up into a buttery crescendo vs firm cut.
90-92 £28.30
2006 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay,
Margaret/West Oz (14.5%) - leesy nose leads on to fatter richer mouthfeel with nutty undertones; a bit
heavy and hot in the end though. £45
2007 Penfolds Bin 07A Chardonnay, Adelaide
Hills (12.5%) - sweet vs nutty aromas, you get more flavour and build up in the mouth but
again it's a touch too sweet/sour. £27.99
2006 Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay (13%) - creamy and concentrated showing oily
mineral tones vs buttery lees; nice hazelnutty flavours and big vs firm and
fresh mouthfeel. 89-91 £39.99
2007 Ramey Chardonnay, California (14.5%) - aromatic and exotic, toasty vs
buttery vs hazelnut; enticing bite vs oomph, keeps on going. Wow.
90-92 £46.99
2008 Wolf Blass Presidents Selection Chardonnay (13.5%) - a bit unrevealing to
start, nutty vs tight palate finishing with very subtle cream and toast.
87-89
£10.99
2008 Xanadu Reserve Chardonnay, Margaret/Western Oz (14%) - quite tropical and fat vs
toasted nut notes, finishing with subtle crispness and power too.
87-89 £42
The ones I didn't taste (but probably
should have done): all from Aus unless stated
Andrew Peace FuturPak, Blason de Bourgogne Macon-Villages (France), Brown
Brothers Bankside, Chapel Hill, De Bortoli Estate, Felsina i Sistri (Italy),
Ferngrove, Jacob's Creek, Jacob's Creek Reeves Point, Lindemans Bin 65, MacForbes, McWilliam's "Crisp", Oyster Bay (NZ), Paxton Thomas Block, Punt Road
Napoleone Vineyard, Rosemount "Crisp", Wakefield Estate, Wolf Blass Yellow
Label, Oxford Landing, Shaw and Smith M3, Stonier Reserve, Wakefield St.
Andrews, Hardy's Eileen Hardy, Moss Wood, Penfolds Thomas Hyland, PHI Lusatia
Park Vineyard, Rustenberg (SA), Vasse Felix Heytesbury.
More hot Oz features - varietal obsessions at a glance:
click here for a dozen Rieslings
and 20 Shirazes -
10 winemaker profiles: Yabby,
Wakefield, St Hallett, Pirie, Mitchelton, Knappstein,
Greenstone, Clonakilla, Paxton, Petaluma (see "winery
snapshots6"); and a "consumer top-20"
selection. |
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WORDS
Well,
I'm lying: half that many actually. I didn't feel like tasting all fifty
of them, especially as there was a lot to taste and winemakers to talk to at
Wine Australia's modestly titled London show in February 2010 (billed as "World
Class Australia"). The plan was "a blind tasting showcasing the breadth of the
Australian category (don't you just hate that marketing-babble word) and
beyond," which grouped the mystery wines into three logical-enough styles:
"crisp & refreshing" (which I skipped just to save time but
probably shouldn't have), "fine & elegant" and
"rich & complex." The line-up included a few Chardonnays from France, Italy, New
Zealand, South Africa and California; although mostly from Oz. I've added five
more I tried un-blind over the course of the day, which either I missed
by not tasting all "50" or I found outstanding enough to round off this piece
with. My Chardy-tastic notes and reviews have been posted opposite and below (evidently).
 Conclusions?
Well, my top three blind wines were from Oz (Penfolds Bin 311), Burgundy (Bruno
Colin) and California (Ramey); closely followed by a couple of other Australians, New
Zealand (Kumeu River) and South Africa (the rather classy Hamilton Russell). Add
to those five surefire classics, although not tasted blind and not all
well-known, such as Petaluma
(nobody's going to accuse me of bias there), Yabby Lake (one to watch) and
Paxton (biodynamic by the way).
So, yes, you can of course say that Oz does indeed make some world-class Chardonnay, but
some of them were somewhat clunky (e.g. sometimes hard acidity)
despite their ambitious price tag. Talking of which, the latter doesn't
automatically tie in with obvious "top quality" (although the Ramey was the
dearest in the tasting) or a particular style, which
isn't exactly a scoop of the century. For example, I marginally preferred (but
not by much) Penfold's 311 over their more expensive Yattarna and didn't
particularly like the in-between 07A (although a different vintage from the
other two). Certain wines aside, nice to see generally
more subtle oak usage too. And finally, who said Chardonnay was boring?!
Other star Chardys tasted (not blind)
2007 Petaluma Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay - classy toasty buttery vs maturing
complex notes vs tight and refreshing finish; lovely balance.
90-92 £15
2006 Petaluma Tiers Chardonnay -
toastier yet with lusher fruit and finishing on wilder, yeast-lees edges; again
shows fab mix of maturing and intricate vs tight and long.
92-94 £36
More Petaluma here.
2008 Yabby Lake Vineyard, Red Claw
Chardonnay, Mornington/Victoria - nice aromatic oaty leesy nose; subtle buttery
fruit vs tight and mineral palate, lively elegant length.
89-91 £15
2008 Yabby Lake Chardonnay,
Mornington/Victoria - similar to start although develops wilder lees edges vs
creamy and full flavours/mouthfeel; again lovely crisp length, elegant
structured style. 90-92 £24
2007 Paxton Chardonnay, McLaren Vale/South
Aus - buttery, nutty, maturing, oatmeal aromas/flavours; lovely balance of rich
cream and lees, maturing fruit vs mineral and still alive.
90-92 £19
All rights © Richard M James
March/April 2010
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