Eldridge Estate Mornington Peninsula Chardonnay 2009

After a weird call to the wine store this morning I thought this was appropriate.

A beautifully crafted Chardonnay from the peninsula. The Eldridge Estate Mornington Peninsula Chardonnay 2009 is sort of a step back to the close past – you get that? What I mean is this a Chardonnay that isn’t made in the Chablis style of tort acid and citrus. This wine has the beautiful texture of Chassagne Montrachet with a burst of stone fruit, soft grapefruit and persistent licorice powder. This is a wine that was made 10 years ago, before the time when it was uber chic to make chardonnay with piercing acid and nothing else. (Don’t get me wrong. I like acid and grapefruit in Chardonnay, but I also like complexity and fullness too.) Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.

Drink with pork and pistachio sausage
Drink till 2016
97
Screwcap 13.7%v/v $47 Albert St Food & Wine, Brunswick

Kidnapper Cliffs Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2009 Bottle 2230

One of the best New Zealand chardonnays I have had. Simple! The Kidnapper Cliffs Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2009 in my mind would quite easily stand-up in a blind test with the best Australia has to offer and quite possibly 1er Cru’s from Puligny and Chassagne, without the price tag. Very floral and creme brulee-ey on the nose, with white oleander a standout with grapefruit primary after pulling the cork. Lovely balance of oak with seamless minerality running down the middle of the palate. Its also interesting to note that this wine has virtually no MLF; sort of uncommon for Kiwi chardonnays I’d suggest. I left it in the glass for about 20 minutes to come closer to room temperature where licorice powder and hints of white peach stood tall. Like I said, one of the best New Zealand Chardonnay’s I have seen.

Drink with rabbit pie – my recipe to come later
Drink till 2016
96
Quality cork 13%v/v $45 Prince Wine Store St. Kilda

Jean Pillot et Fils Les Caillerets 1er Cru Chassagne-Montrachet 1996

Oh it's a miserable day here in Melbourne - you'd think we were in Sydney!!!

Anywhoo. I could well be talking about the Bindi bottling this morning - 2009 Quartz, Original Vineyard and Block 5 with the Quartz being the first Bindi wine to go under stelvin (sounds a bit blue doesn't it, 'Quartz under Stelvin'). Not today folks. Today it is going to be something that is going to shoo these rain clouds away; so shoo clouds, here is the Jean Pillot et Fils Les Caillerets 1er Cru Chassagne-Montrachet 1996.

I picked this up from Langtons about 18 months ago, and the real good thing about this is that I've got one left. For such a relatively old chardonnay (in our world anyway) the colour in the glass wasn't as dark gold/orange that I was expecting. On the contrary, the colour was golden, but still quite lite with a pale gold hue. Oh what gorgeous harmony the nose was! Full-on custard, lemon curd, creme brulee, oyster shells and truffles all hitting the olfactory at different intervals. In the mouth there were more surprises with the acid still bolt up-right with very citrus and a lovely briney feel about it; this is such a good wine, and like I said, there is one more.

A perfect example of getting what you paid for!

Drink with pan roasted snapper with a burre blanc sauce

Drink till 2011

98

Quality cork 12.5%v/v $110 at http://www.langtons.com.au/

By Farr Geelong Chardonnay 2006

It’s Mothers Day today – happy Mother’s Day to all the mum’s out there, and happy Mother’s Day to my mum who is holidaying in sunny Tuscany. My lovely Erin has had a lovely child free morning with a cup of tea, jam pancakes and the paper in bed; I’ve had two annoying (of course I love them) little buggers at my feet, but now they seem to be quiet watching ‘Yo Gabba-Gabba’ on the box – cabin pressure has been restored. So with five minutes up my sleeve, I steal myself off to the study for a wee bit of blogging.

What to write about - something mucho fantastico I think. The By Farr Geelong Chardonnay 2006. Once again, I think Geelong is the most underrated wine growing region in Australia, and this is pretty much thanks to Gary Farr. Straw yellow with a golden hue, aromas of stone fruit, with peach kernel coming through strong and a massive hit of lemon tart and licorice powder at the end. If this wine was masked, it could easily be mistaken for something from Chassagne-Montrachet with layers of citrus, minerality and licorice all woven together by precise oak integration; simply stunning wine.

Drink with baked mulloway
Drink till 2013
98
Quality cork 13.5%v/v $40 mailing list two years ago