Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2011
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Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
A youthful and expressive nose features pears, white nectarines, lime and jasmine notes. Beneath lies a myriad of toasted sesame, vanilla pod, cinnamon quill and cardamom aromas. The tight, seamless and elegant palate is highlighted with figs, quince and lemon rind characters that open towards a delicately textured and contoured mid palate. Blanched almonds and hazelnuts weave through the primary fruits and textural layers, leading to a long and defined finish.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Rich, ripe and generous, deftly balanced to lift the pear, mango, floral and spice flavors with gentle acidity. Comes together on the supple, seductive finish, showing tremendous depth and intensity without losing any charm. Drink now through 2025.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
While all may not have been well in the east (of Australia) in 2011, all was well and sunny in Western Australia. The 2011 Art Series Chardonnay is starting to turn a vivid yellow in the glass, yet it retains glints of vibrant green still. The fruit that gathers around the acid (being the center point of the wine at this stage) is savory and taut. If anything, this wine is in a quiet phase right now—the fruit is tightly bound to its supporting phenolic and acidic structure, awaiting its next window.
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Wine & Spirits
From Block 20 at Leeuwin Estate, where the vines are close to 40 years old, this barrel ferments and ages in new French oak, adding hazelnut and smoky wood spice to the clean white-grapefruit flavors. The wine feels tightly knit and harmonious, suited to age for a decade or more, or to decant for crayfish, like the yabbies that thrive in the dams at Leeuwin Estate.
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In 1972, legendary Napa Valley winemaker, Robert Mondavi, first identified the future site of the Leeuwin vineyard as being ideal for the production of premium wine and provided early mentorship to owners, Denis and Tricia Horgan in the establishment of Leeuwin Estate. The first vines were planted by hand over a five year period from 1973.
Featuring state-of-the art facilities, the winery building was opened in 1978, celebrating with a trial vintage. Leeuwin enjoyed its first commercial vintage in 1979, and was thrust into the international spotlight when Decanter Magazine gave its highest recommendation to the 1980 "Art Series" Chardonnay in an international blind tasting.
Maintaining a team of highly skilled and dedicated winemakers, Leeuwin Estate is now under the direction of two generations of the founding family.