Winemaker Notes
Aromas of pink grapefruit, orange blossom and brioche. On the palate white peach, nougat and lemon curd.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Radiant gold in color, this classy Adelaide Hills Chardonnay is polished, bright and food friendly. It takes a few minutes to open in glass, and shouldn't be sipped too cold, but at its best it offers ripe lemons and oranges, white spice, honeysuckle, some seashell reduction and some vanillin oak notes. The mouthfeel is buttery in texture, supported by spicy oak, buoyed by bright acidity and with a long finish like the salted rim of a citrusy cocktail. Drink with a wide range of dishes. Best buy.
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.