Chardonnay

Oz Clarke's 250 Best Wines 2008
"Bob McLean is a big, beefy fellow, generous and jovial, and I thought this Chardonnay would reflect his big, bluff style. But Bob is also a keen observer of the tides that sweep wine styles back and forth, and he knows that we like our Chardonnays a little more subtle nowadays. So, despite the fruit coming from Kalimna this is gentle, scented with peach blossom, flavoured with apple and melon flesh. I'd almost say it was feminine, but Bob knows where I live. He'd never let me get away with it."
Oz Clarke
The fruit for this wine was sourced from a single vineyard in the Kalimna region of the Barossa Valley. The grapes were hand picked, with only the best fruit selected. After crushing, and a slow cool fermentation, the lees were added back and continually stirred in order to build structure and mouth feel. This is a beautifully balanced, fruit charged wine that is drinking superbly.


6

The 2008 Chardonnay follows very much in the "Allandale" style with its very rich/ ripe peach flavours balanced with new French and American oak characters. There is great length of palate from this wine and a bready complexity from aging on yeast lees. The finish is crisp and fresh. A versatile wine which can be matched with a wide variety of food from seafood to veal. It Chardonnay will improve with short to medium term cellaring.

0

Crisp, clean and refreshing. There are zingy citrus flavours of lemon and grapefruit, just a hint of nutmeg spice and some riper yellow peach and nectarine flavours that linger on the finish.. The finish is dry with some subdued astringency giving
definition to the palate.


0

Lemon gold in colour with bright clarity. On the nose there are obvious stone fruit characters with some subtle cashew and vanilla aromas also showing. The palate is complex with peach and pear flavours apparent.
There is a smooth and creamy mid palate balanced with some integrated oak use followed by a clean and persistent finish.
Drink between now and 2011.

0

Bright pear and tropical fruit aromas and flavours in good balance with the spicy oak. Clean, fresh and delicious with a refreshing finish.

0