I talked recently about the high quality of value priced Australian Chardonnays. This is not where the current Australian Chardonnay story ends. The premium Chardonnays can be of outstanding quality as well. One such example is the 2023 Shaw + Smith Lenswood Chardonnay of the Adelaide Hills.
2023 was a cold and wet vintage, not dissimilar to 2011. 2011 delivered very good white wines, though. And the same seems to happen with 2023 white wines. The standard and very good Shaw + Smith Chardonnay is called M3. It sits in the middle between the richer and lean styles. The 2023 Shaw + Smith Lenswood Chardonnay comes from special high altitude parcels of this vineyard. This wine sits closer to the leaner end, and what a wine it is.
The flavours are citrus, pear and ginger, and the acidity is quite high. What impresses is the incredible energy and drive of this wine. The wine is intense, steely and highly strung, with terrific precision. It is flinty and has a long mineral finish. It would not have to hide behind Burgundy Grand Cru.
Some Adelaide Hills Chardonnay can be truly exceptional, think Petaluma Piccadilly Chardonnay or Penfolds Bin A Chardonnay as well. As an aside, has Henschke ever produced a white wine close to this quality from their Lenswood vineyard?
Score: 97/+++
2 comments:
Petaluma not so much these days judging from recent tastings with PE ownershipweighing on the brand imo. Tapanappa also a good shout but they need time I tend to find.
Yes, I agree with that
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