Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Surprise at the Bledisloe - Punt Road Chardonnay 2006, Yarra Valley


During the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival last month, The Point restaurant hosted the Bledisloe of wine - pitting Oz v NZ. It was a close tussle with the Australians triumphing in the end.
During the course of the night,Sparkling, Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Shiraz were observed, with the Punt Road Chardonnay being the big hit of the night. The real surprise was all of the NZ winemakers claiming this chardonnay as their own. As if the Kiwis could make something this refined.
Firstly, our little bird cousins are still stuck in the era of buttery, oaky, flabby chardonnays. Here in Oz we have learnt from the mistakes of the 90's and embraced the Burgundy feel of citrus, acid and the holy grail - licorice powder; well I reckon that's the holy grail anyway.
To look at this wine you will see even yellow with straw fading slow. On the nose there is grapefruit screaming up the olfactory, with a little sherbert at the end. In the mouth there is grapefruit again, massive grapefruit. And as I said, licorice powder comes through the longer this wine sits in the glass; and the glass is important - a wine like this needs the appropriate vessel, with this appropriate vessel being a Montrachet glass, similar to a red Burgundy.
Great wine this, with plenty of juice in the tank.
Have with seafood - crayfish a given and yabbies.
18.5/20
now till 2012

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