Mak Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2001
- wine.com
-
Robert
Parker
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Mak, a.k.a Rob McDonald, longtime importer of Australian wine settled on this tale for the label of his own brand for its embodiment of the Aussie spirit. A spirit, Mak will tell you, that is evident in this Adelaide Hills chardonnay grown in the soil of a place that has a legendary quality of its own.
The idea behind Mak Vineyards is grounded in the soils and in regional identity, in wine that speaks of the place from which it came. The aspiration, in short is to be able to capture something intrinsic to the place, like classic Australian folklore does, but using wine rather than words as a medium for the tale.
Professional Ratings
- wine.com
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Other Vintages
2005-
Robert
Parker
-
Robert
Parker
-
Wine
Spectator
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A narrow band of hills and valleys east of the city of Adelaide, the Adelaide Hills region is a diverse landscape featuring a variety of microclimates. In general it is moderate with high-altitude areas cooler and wetter compared to its warmer, lower areas.
Piccadilly Valley, the part of Adelaide Hills closest to the city, was first staked out by a grower named Brian Croser, in the 1970s for a cool spot to grow Chardonnay, then uncommon in Australia. Today a good amount of the Chardonnay goes to winemakers outside of the region.
Producers here experiment with other cool-climate loving aromatic varieties like Pinot Gris, Viognier and Riesling. Charming sparkling wine is also possible. On its north side, lower, west-facing slopes make full-bodied Shiraz.