Tolpuddle Vineyard Chardonnay 2018
Somehow this slipped through the cracks when it first landed, and what a wine to fall through the cracks – a true benchmark for Australian Chardonnay.
It spends just nine months in oak, which helps keep this so lively. Oak is such an obvious flavour after all. Pristine flavours here are the star. A bright, squeaky clean wine of refinement, delicacy and vivacity. If anything it is even more delicate than usual. Chablis, not Chassagne if you’re looking for an analogue.
Green melon fruit, a little biscuit, the palate shaped by its citrus acidity, though that acid is all natural (and all good). Indeed it is a bit firm, my only gripe.
Class undoubted, this Tolpuddle Vineyard Chardonnay 2018 is a wonderfully refreshing and high class wine with a real sense of mastery to its flavour and shape, even if the best is some time away (hence the plus sign). Excellent wine.
Best drinking: now to at least six or seven years. It will live longer but why wait? 18.6/20, 95/100+. 13%, $80. Would I buy it? Yes.
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