Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is looking attractively pure and fresh with aromas of sliced pear and white peach, as well as apple and lemon. The palate has crystalline acidity, set amid ripe pears and melon and a hint of savory nougat. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Although marked by accents of toasted grain and nuts, the focus of the excellent 2019 Croft Chardonnay is on the wonderfully pristine white peach and pineapple fruit. Medium to full-bodied and joyfully generous on the palate, it's focused and streamlined at the same time, flowing easily into a long, citrus-inflected and silken finish. The best Croft Chardonnay to date?
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.