Winemaker Notes
A strong but low yielding vintage for Chardonnay in 2022. On the nose, there is great purity, with florals, lemon, and lime notes. The palate has intensity and flavor but the personality of this wine is defined by its lightness, delicacy, and precision. It has excellent balance, with a crystalline character, fresh acid, and impressive persistence of flavor.
Professional Ratings
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Australian Wine Companion
Another alluring Coal River chardonnay release from the folks at Tolpuddle. It's at once full and concentrated but is reined in by a tight framework of acidity, coiling on rails of minerality before powering across the palate. Tension and detail on point, light textural phenolic elements give it a sleek and silken mouthfeel. The fruit tones of white peach, nectarine and citrus are cloaked in soft spice, white floral tones, struck match, almond paste and crushed stone and the wine displays a stony elegance and seriousness on the long finish. If we were to talk in hushed tones about what would constitute a Tasmanian Grand Cru chardonnay, the Tolpuddle would be the front-runner. Superb.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Chardonnay is a quieter, fleshier wine than the 2021 tasted alongside, and this shows delicacy and precision. The persistence of this wine through the finish is admirable, and while it could be overlooked for the flashier vintages either side, it will remain an elegant and restrained expression of this vineyard. I love this wine. It's totally in the zone for me. It's salty and elongated and powerful, but it has restraint in spades too. 13.5% alcohol.
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James Suckling
Always a very good chardonnay. Often among the New World's best. This said, it is always a pungent, flinty reductive iteration, considerably different to the more generous norm in these parts. Medium-bodied and typically taut, reeling off truffle, leesy oatmeal and white peach notes across a tautly furled, almost gritty climax of praline and hazelnut accents. This will age exceptionally well.
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Wine Spectator
This stunning expression of Chardonnay is sleek and juicy throughout, with preserved lemon, orange sherbet, nectarine lime zest and toasted sesame seed notes. Mouthwatering acidity joins hints of flint and marzipan, adding to the complexity. Drink now. 120 cases imported.
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.
Directly south of the city of Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula wine region, the cool-climate island of Tasmania has earned an honorable reputation as the country’s finest producer of Sparkling Wine. Naturally the region also excels in top quality still wines from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling, all distinguished because of a high natural acidity. Most of the Tasmania vineyards cluster around the eastern side of the island from north to south.