Winemaker Notes
Pale gold in color with a rich, savory nose of white nectarine, cashew nuts, brine, rillettes, dill and cedar notes. On the palate the wine is textural with mealy notes and grapefruit freshness and a long finish with salty almond notes.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is a fine source for chardonnay, so far away from the highly strung, reductive Australian norm. Chewy notes of nougat, cream, cashews and pithy stone fruit. Dutifully ripe and in line with a medium-bodied, savory style, broad and long. This reminds me of a succulent expression from the Maconnais, showing phenolics over shrill freshness. Drink or hold.
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.
Extending into the sea from just south of the city of Melbourne to form Port Philip Bay in the southern state of Victoria, the Mornington Peninsula grape growing region naturally has a cool, maritime climate. A wide range of soils and topographic variations support a large diversity of wine styles within the small headland.