———————————————————————————
We’ve seen wines from the spectacular lunch/tasting occasions held irregularly by a good friend, reported in Q&P, normally as they pertain to nice Burgundy. He’s at all times eager for an attention-grabbing theme, so I steered grand cru stage New World Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. I used to be to see if we may discover some that sat alongside the very best, but in addition on simply how the group would reply. Not with flying colours, it will appear.
The group, I ought to stress, comprises nobody from France, so no blaming them or suggesting bias. That is all locals. There are, nonetheless, various who’ve turn into considerably entrenched of their views. Nicely earlier than a bottle was opened, a number of had declared that the occasion could be nothing greater than a parade of third stage high quality wannabees, which may by no means ever aspire to what we take pleasure in from Burgundy. Some felt it a waste of a lunch. Others had been more than pleased to take a look at it pretty.
The underside line? The final consensus, with some firmly resolved by no means to offer an inch to the New World pretenders whereas others had been ready to stay in the true world, was that whereas we make some fantastic Pinot Noir – Bindi, Bass Phillip, Tolpuddle, Oakridge, Principal Ridge, Mt Mary – coming from an array of areas – the Yarra Valley, Tasmania, Adelaide Hills, Macedon, Gippsland and counting – it’s the Chardonnays the place we come nearer to the top.
However that in itself is a bone of competition. The idea of ‘come shut’, means that the goal is at all times to make one thing replicating the model of white Burgundy. It isn’t and it shouldn’t be. Completely different terroir will at all times imply that the wines are completely different. That doesn’t robotically make one higher than one other. Simply completely different.
Sure, the good wines from Montrachet, Chevalier, Batard, Corton Charlemagne and different sensible Grand Crus are as wonderful as white wine could be. I don’t assume anyplace on the earth tops them. On condition that their costs normally begin within the low 4 figures and skyrocket from there, so they need to be. It additionally doesn’t imply that there aren’t loads of overpriced and odd examples from the area.
One of the best of Australian Chardonnay differs from white Burgundy however can nonetheless be thrilling. Terroir brings about these variations – in fact, definitions of precisely what’s terroir differ. Does it embody selections made by winemakers? For me, completely. So the whole lot from irrigate to non-irrigated vines; forms of oak, new or aged and the way lengthy does the wine spend there; malolactic fermentation or not: 1,000,000 different tiny selections making a giant distinction.
If one was compelled right into a broad generalization, white Burgundy is extra minerally, maybe extra concentrated, leaner with extra depth and precision, and a better stage of acidity. After all, generalizations…
Leeuwin Property Artwork Collection Chardonnay 2020
Chardonnay stars in lots of areas as of late however watch out of preconceptions. Californian Chardonnay is usually regarded as massive and buttery. Australian Chardonnay was as soon as so depending on oak that buyers had been actually mistaking the style of oak for that of the grape. The pendulum swung means again and we had lean, barely minerally, laser-like examples the place oak appeared non-existent. We appeared to have settled for a cheerful medium, as of late, effectively balanced and with extra stonefruit and tropical notes, with the oak largely in stability.
For me, the trick is to take pleasure in all types. Why anybody would need to restrict their experiences, and the potential pleasure it will probably provide, is past me.
Cloudburst Wines
In Australia, Margaret River might need a comparatively brief historical past however it’s already floor zero for nice Chardy (and Cabernet, however that’s for an additional day). We’ve featured the wines from luminaries resembling Cullen’s (undoubtedly one of many New World’s biggest Chardonnay producers, with the Kevin John collection and their restricted launch wines), Cloudburst (a lot newer, smaller, more durable to supply and in addition extra hit or miss – however once they hit, spectacular) and Leeuwin Estate who led the best way for Chardonnay on this nation for therefore lengthy.
Different must-try Chardonnays from Margaret River in Western Australia are Pierro, Moss Wooden, Vasse Felix (their Heytesbury Chardonnay sits with the perfect within the land), Howard Park, Woodlands, Deep Woods and Fraser Gallop to call a couple of.
Outdoors Margaret River, we now have many fantastic Chardonnays – Coldstream Hills Reserve, Mt Mary, Oakridge, Yering Station, Big Steps (Yarra Valley); Ten Minutes by Tractor, Kooyong, Principal Ridge, Paringa Property, Prancing Horse, Yabby Lake (Mornington Peninsula); Curly Flat, Bindi (Macedon area), Tolpuddle, Freycinet, Dawson James, Dr Edge (Tasmania); Shaw & Smith M3, Tapanappa, Grosset (Adelaide Hills); and even Tyrrells Vat 47 from the Hunter Valley (I say, ‘even’ as a result of the Hunter is seemingly an unlikely place for nice Chardonnay and but this one has been a star for many years); and we now have solely scratched the floor.
Enable me to focus on two which, by way of sheer high quality, sit with the world’s biggest. Private choice (and in some circumstances, prejudices) could imply you’ll somewhat go along with wines from the guts of Burgundy, and that’s truthful sufficient. What’s indeniable is that the $100 to $200 you’ll pay for these two Aussies makes them infinitely higher worth than the $1,000 plus (and generally, plus, plus, plus) for nice white Burgundy.
We’ve not touched on Chardonnay from the massive boys. There are various, none extra so than Penfold’s Yattarna.
Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay 2018
What looks like eons in the past now, however will need to have been solely again within the Nineties, Penfolds acquired a bit of bored with being informed that they had been fairly good with reds however couldn’t make a good white to avoid wasting themselves. So that they got down to make Australia’s biggest white (whether or not they have achieved that may be a matter of opinion, however the consequence, Yattarna, is definitely an outstanding wine).
In the course of the improvement stage, Penfolds had been as forthcoming with inside info as they at all times are – in different phrases, in no way – and so there was infinite debate as as to if it will even be a Chardonnay. Many thought a Hunter Semillon or Clare Valley Riesling the extra apparent selection, as a result of these wines couldn’t solely age for a few years however attain the very best stage of high quality, and since they had been each so quintessentially Australian. However with a lot of their market within the worldwide realms, it needed to be Chardonnay.
The primary was the 1995, launched in 1998. Over time, the fruit for Yattarna has been sourced from throughout – if reminiscence serves, there was even a dollop of McLaren Vale Chardy in that first one. Nowadays, Tasmania, Tumbarumba and the Adelaide Hills normally present the fruit, or on the very least, the overwhelming majority of it. So, what is instantly evident is that this takes it away from nearly all the opposite wines we now have talked about, from anyplace. They are typically single winery wines. Yattarna shouldn’t be even a single area wine.
The phrase ‘Yattarna’, means ‘little by little’, and it mirrored how Penfold’s developed the wine, and by which they proceed to search for tiny enhancements. The wine is sub-titled ‘Bin 144’ (Penfolds do like to offer their wines bin numbers) as there have been 144 makes an attempt at blends earlier than they initially acquired it proper.
No query {that a} really nice classic all through so many Australian areas, 2021, gave the newest launch each alternative to face up. And that’s precisely what it has executed. For me, the very best Yattarna but launched. For the document, it noticed 9 months in French oak barriques, 70% of which had been new.
———————————————————————
