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.
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.
Home to some of Australia’s most elegant and long-lived red and white wines, Margaret River is situated in the farthest reaches of Western Australia. Relatively warm and dry, the region is cooled by breezes from the Indian Ocean. Margaret River takes some inspiration from Bordeaux, producing top-quality Cabernet Sauvignons and Bordeaux Blends with firm structure, mouthwatering acidity, balanced alcohol and notes of herbs and spice. For white wines, refreshing blends of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon as well as complex, age-worthy Chardonnays are regional specialties.