Saturday, October 5, 2019

Hoddles Creek New Releases

Hoddles Creek is an interesting winery in the Upper Yarra Valley. It has a strong cost focus, while at the same time having access to high quality fruit. As a result, the consumer wins.

The 2018 Hoddles Creek Estate Chardonnay is the winery's work horse. It is a pleasant wine of apple and pear flavours, with a good structure and underlying acidity. 2018 was a warm year. Therefore, this wine lacks some of the raciness of previous years (91 points).

The 2018 Hoddles Creek Estate 1er Chardonnay, from a vineyard at 500m elevation, has more depth and elegance, as citrus and grapefruit flavours are balanced with some spicy oak (93 points).

The 2016 Hoddles Creek Estate Road Block Chardonnay comes from a young vineyard. At 300m it is not the highest, but it is the coolest, as it is east facing. This new label is currently a bit broad on the palate, but it has some persistence and will be the one to watch in future vintages (92 points).

The best wine in the line-up is the 2018 Hoddles Creek Estate 1er Pinot Noir, probably a first, as Hoddles Creek is better known for its Chardonnay. This Pinot Noir tastes of red and black cherries, with mushroom flavours in the aftertaste. This is a fairly light, but complex and well balanced wine (94 points).

The 2018s should probably be drunk earlier than the previous two vintages, as a result of the warm vintage. 


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