Home > Wines We Love > 2019 Shaw + Smith ‘Lenswood’ Chardonnay

An Adelaide Hills pioneer at the top of their game. Intense stone fruit, complex smoky barrel notes and minerals take the lead.

Producer
Shaw + Smith
Region

Adelaide Hills
RRP

$93
Vintage

2019
Variety/Varieties

Chardonnay
Alc./Vol.

13.5%

An Adelaide Hills pioneer at the top of their game, this is a standout release from Shaw + Smith’s home vineyard, with intense stone fruit, complex smoky barrel notes and minerals taking the lead.

Tasting note

On the nose there’s a bright lift of white stone fruit, smoky minerals, matchstick, peach skin, lemon pith and classy toasty oak. There’s ample fruit and generally forward, pleasing ripeness with all the trappings of serious chardonnay, but there’s drive, brightness and a real zip of acidity, which is sheathed in satiny texture.

Themes of this wine

Chardonnay

With an explosion of interest over the last few decades, chardonnay is now the world’s most planted white grape. With its ability to grow in varied conditions and make everything from sparkling wine, to lean and mineral whites, to full-bodied textural expressions, it is perhaps no surprise to see Burgundy’s key white grape become so dominant.

Adelaide Hills

The Adelaide Hills is a young winegrowing region by South Australian standards, but it is a richly fertile one. The push to plant vines in the Hills was led by some of Australia’s most established and famous names – Croser, Henschke, Shaw and Smith, Knappstein, Weaver – and while they are all still very much major players, the Hills has also been a hotbed for the avant-garde, being the cradle of the natural wine movement in this country. Today, that lo-fi, organic-centric movement – with Basket Range as its spiritual home – has flourished, and it happily shares space with the established order. There are now over 50 cellar doors in the Hills, and it is also well served with restaurants.

Lenswood

The Adelaide Hills has two official subregions, Lenswood and Piccadilly Valley, with the former to the north and the latter extending south. The midpoint, where they share a small border, has Basket Range to the west, with the larger region extending around and beyond both subregions. Both Piccadilly Valley and Lenswood have the highest and coolest sites in the Hills, with chardonnay, pinot noir and sauvignon blanc the key varieties.

Home > Wines We Love > Nadeson Collis ‘Coda’ Sparkling NV

A unique sparkling wine drawn solely from a solera started in 2003 – think artisan Champagne, shot through with nutty sherry-like notes, but built on fruit intensity.

Producer
Lethbridge
Region

Henty
RRP

$145
Vintage

NV
Variety/Varieties

Chardonnay Pinot gris/grigio Pinot meunier Pinot noir
Alc./Vol.

13.5%

While the fizz project was originally started by Lethbridge’s Ray Nadeson and Maree Collis for home consumption, this unique sparkling wine – drawn solely from a solera started in 2003 – now vies for the honour of Australia’s most complex and fascinating sparkling wine. Think artisan Champagne, shot through with nutty sherry-like notes, but built on the fruit intensity and electric acidity of Henty fruit.

Tasting note

This is oh-so complex, reminiscent of top artisan Champagne, but distinctly individual, too. A lash of sea spray, with brittle notes of dry sherry, cracked roasted nuts aplenty, salted caramel, sourdough rye, hints of citrus peel, with brusquely tart cider apples, Comté cheese rind, dried apple… so much going on. There’s a real sense of intensity and density here, but brightly fresh and vibrant with a softer, pillowy fizz carrying the flavours along with a racy line of acid through the endless finish. This is one of the most layered and engaging bottles of fizz ever made on our shores.

Themes of this wine

Sparkling wine

There are many different ways to make sparkling wine. The most famous is the method widely associated with Champagne, where still wine is refermented in bottle with added sugar and yeast to create bubbles, then matured on the lees to create layers of flavour and textural detail. But pétillant naturel (pét-nat) or méthode ancestrale is an even older approach, with the primary ferment finishing in bottle to create the bubbles, with the result usually simpler and brighter, with less leesy complexity. Then there are more modern methods, like Charmat, where the fizz-producing ferment occurs in tank, then the wine is bottled cold to retain the bubbles, and the result is, well, bubbly wine, without any bottle-conditioned character.

Solera

A solera is a method of maturing wine from various vintages, with new material added each year to make up for what has been drawn off to be bottled. This can be done in a large vat or tank, or it can be managed over a series of smaller barrels, where wine is transferred from youngest to the oldest blend at the end of the solera, which is combination of many vintages and will be the most layered wine. This process is used for sherry for a complex and consistent result, as well as port and other fortified wines. It is also used for Champagne and sparkling wines, often adding sherry-like notes, to add as reserve wine to mix with the current vintage.

Chardonnay

With an explosion of interest over the last few decades, chardonnay is now the world’s most planted white grape. With its ability to grow in varied conditions and make everything from sparkling wine, to lean and mineral whites, to full-bodied textural expressions, it is perhaps no surprise to see Burgundy’s key white grape become so dominant.

Pinot noir

Pinot noir is one of the wine world’s most revered grapes. Notoriously fickle to grow and make, it makes what many see as the pinnacle of red wine in France’s Burgundy, but it has also found many happy homes around the world, and none more so than in Australia across our cooler viticultural regions.

Pinot meunier

Pinot meunier is a grape mainly consigned to sparkling wine production, with still red wines relatively rare. But in Australia, though the output is modest, the grape has a meaningful place as a quality grape for red wine production (alongside sparkling wine), and with a noble history that stretches back to the 1830s.

Henty

Henty spills across the extreme south-west of Victoria, with less than 200 hectares planted to vines and a decidedly cool climate, favouring riesling, chardonnay and pinot noir. While it may not be heavily planted, the region boasts some of this country’s most exciting vineyard land, largely planted to basalt soils over clay and with bracing breezes funnelling across from the Southern Ocean bringing night-time temperatures down significantly. Many would argue that it is home to two vineyards that vie to be the country’s best producers of riesling: Crawford River and Seppelt Drumborg.

Home > Wines We Love > 2018 Cobaw Ridge Chardonnay

Flinty, white peach and lemon curd, gently textural – this has all the trappings of complex chardonnay, with generosity of flavour and winemaking detail perfectly poised and pitched.

Producer
Cobaw Ridge
Region

Macedon Ranges
RRP

$58
Vintage

2018
Variety/Varieties

Chardonnay
Alc./Vol.

13.5%

Alan and Nelly Cooper’s Cobaw Ridge is a Macedon pioneer. The vineyard was planted in 1985, has been certified biodynamic since 2011, and today, the wines have never been better. Shot through with flinty minerals arranged over a wire of pulsing acidity, this has all the trappings of a complex chardonnay, with generosity of flavour and winemaking detail perfectly poised and pitched.

Tasting note

White peach and nectarine, lemon curd, yellow grapefruit, a puff of complex matchstick elements, with oak notes, barrel ferment and pillowy lees all present, but there’s impeccable poise, too, a harmony of elements. All is on show here, but all is in balance and check, with ample flavour and a vibrant line of mineral-etched precision, effortless finesse. The palate is textural, with pops of nougat, crystallised lemon peel and lemon pith, with presence and weight but an underlying drive of acidity and mineral tension underpinning and speaking resolutely of the place where it’s grown.

Themes of this wine

Chardonnay

With an explosion of interest over the last few decades, chardonnay is now the world’s most planted white grape. With its ability to grow in varied conditions and make everything from sparkling wine, to lean and mineral whites, to full-bodied textural expressions, it is perhaps no surprise to see Burgundy’s key white grape become so dominant.

Macedon Ranges

Melbourne is well served with top wine regions, with the Yarra, Mornington, Geelong and Macedon all about an hour from the city. All are cool climate, but Macedon takes the prize for being the coolest, with some touting it as the best territory for chardonnay and pinot noir in the country. Evidence of that potential, aside from some glittering exceptions, haven’t exactly been crowding wine store shelves over the years, but much has changed, and there’s a dynamic community ensuring that potential is being tapped in exciting ways.

Home > Wines We Love > 2018 Ocean Eight ‘Verve’ Chardonnay

This is laden with stone fruit and grapefruit notes, with textural flex on the palate that is straightened by trademark freshness.

Producer
Ocean Eight
Region

Mornington Peninsula
RRP

$55
Vintage

2018
Variety/Varieties

Chardonnay
Alc./Vol.

12.5%

Mike Aylward has made a name for himself for both pinot gris and pinot noir, but chardonnay is arguably his strongest suit, making wines from the linear to the textural, but always with a defining line of vibrant acidity. With a bit more flesh on its bones than some previous ‘Verve’ bottlings, this is laden with stone fruit and grapefruit notes, with textural flex on the palate that is straightened by trademark freshness.

Tasting note

A fairly full nose of yellow nectarine, white peach, lemon and grapefruit pith accented with mealy notes, with oak present but not an overt feature. This is bright and zippy, as you might expect a wine wearing the tag “verve”, but there’s ample flavour here, too, with richness and a textural side that gives it a little pleasing heft – a sign of the warmer vintage, no doubt – but in a balanced and engaging way, with vibrant acidity teasing out those flavours through a long finish.

Chardonnay

With an explosion of interest over the last few decades, chardonnay is now the world’s most planted white grape. With its ability to grow in varied conditions and make everything from sparkling wine, to lean and mineral whites, to full-bodied textural expressions, it is perhaps no surprise to see Burgundy’s key white grape become so dominant.

Mornington Peninsula

The Mornington Peninsula wine region is somewhat of a latecomer, with ongoing commercial production not taking hold until the 1980s. But it has blossomed somewhat since then. Now boasting over 200 vineyards, with 60-odd wineries and over 50 cellar doors, the Mornington Peninsula specialises in chardonnay and pinot noir, while also staking a claim to some of the country’s best pinot gris.

Checkout our Mornington Peninsula Region Guide, here.

Home > Wines We Love > 2019 Arfion ‘Full Moon Vineyard’ Chardonnay

Perfectly pitched chardonnay from Dave Mackintosh, with flavour and elegance in equal measure.

Producer
Arfion
Region

Yarra Valley
RRP

$17
Vintage

2019
Variety/Varieties

Chardonnay
Alc./Vol.

13%

Perfectly pitched chardonnay from Dave Mackintosh, with flavour and elegance in equal measure.

Tasting note

Refined lift of coolly ripe stone fruit, white nectarine mainly, with a nutty kernel character and an apple pie note. Subtle winemaking adds a little layer of citrus curd and discreet oak, with the palate gently textural, savoury and fresh. There’s plenty of flavour here, but it’s not broad, and there’s good freshness and race, but it’s far from lean, just everything in such perfectly equal measure.

Themes of this wine

Chardonnay

With an explosion of interest over the last few decades, chardonnay is now the world’s most planted white grape. With its ability to grow in varied conditions and make everything from sparkling wine, to lean and mineral whites, to full-bodied textural expressions, it is perhaps no surprise to see Burgundy’s key white grape become so dominant.

Yarra Valley

The Yarra Valley, about 50 km north-east of Melbourne, is one of Australia’s premier wine regions, and one of the country’s coldest viticultural zones. The regional champions are chardonnay and pinot noir, with cabernet and shiraz in more than able support. Aside from the vinous pedigree, the Yarra is also one of the best serviced wine regions for visitors, with a wealth of cellar doors and restaurants, and ample accommodation across the price spectrum.

One of the greats in top form – complex, smoky and nutty, this is chardonnay on a grand and impressive scale.

Tasting note

Sublimely classic and complex nose of struck flint, matchstick, roasted hazelnuts, white peach and nectarine, with grapefruit, citrus curd and a lacing of white florals. It’s the kind of wine that makes Burgundy drinkers think of top Burgundy, with as much smoky gunflinty complexity as there is a wall of perfectly ripe but restrained fruit. So much going on here, but with poise in equal parts. There’s an underlining elegance and measure to it and nothing is forced or overdone, fine-boned acid and texture adding to the sheer commanding grandeur of the whole thing. Impressive stuff.

Themes of this wine

Chardonnay

With an explosion of interest over the last few decades, chardonnay is now the world’s most planted white grape. With its ability to grow in varied conditions and make everything from sparkling wine, to lean and mineral whites, to full-bodied textural expressions, it is perhaps no surprise to see Burgundy’s key white grape become so dominant.

Beechworth

There’s something stately about the Beechworth wine region, with a sense of history, a sense of establishment that belies its relatively new viticultural status and frugal output. Perhaps it’s the town, with the pomp of its sandy hued stone buildings, the whole Gold Rush spectacle of it. Perhaps it’s the imprint of iconic makers, like Giaconda, Sorrenberg and Castagna. Perhaps it’s a combination. But whatever it is, don’t take this to mean Beechworth is set in its ways. It is a region of extraordinary untapped potential, with the ranks of newer makers swelling and testing the limits.

Home > Wines We Love > 2019 Dilworth & Allain ‘Cope-Williams Vineyard’ Chardonnay

A savoury, textured and mineral chardonnay from 2020’s Young Gun of Wine.

Producer
Dilworth & Allain
Region

Macedon Ranges
RRP

$50
Vintage

2019
Variety/Varieties

Chardonnay
Alc./Vol.

12%

A savoury, textured and mineral chardonnay from 2020’s Young Gun of Wine.

Tasting note

Striking nose here, with a purity of yellow citrus fruits, yellow grapefruit and barely ripe white nectarine, shot through with nutty, saline/sea-spray notes, gently smoky scents and a lacing of clotted cream, with stone fruit kernel savouriness and chalky minerals backing it all up. So poised and savoury on the palate, too, but with ample flavour tagging along, again with a chalky mineral feel. A bit of grip and chew channels the fruit brightly through the palate, adding to the tightly framed picture.

Themes of this wine

Chardonnay

With an explosion of interest over the last few decades, chardonnay is now the world’s most planted white grape. With its ability to grow in varied conditions and make everything from sparkling wine, to lean and mineral whites, to full-bodied textural expressions, it is perhaps no surprise to see Burgundy’s key white grape become so dominant.

Macedon Ranges

Melbourne is well served with top wine regions, with the Yarra, Mornington, Geelong and Macedon all about an hour from the city. All are cool climate, but Macedon takes the prize for being the coolest, with some touting it as the best territory for chardonnay and pinot noir in the country. Evidence of that potential, aside from some glittering exceptions, haven’t exactly been crowding wine store shelves over the years, but much has changed, and there’s a dynamic community ensuring that potential is being tapped in exciting ways.

2019 Shaw + Smith ‘Lenswood’ Chardonnay Adelaide Hills

An Adelaide Hills pioneer at the top of their game, this is a standout release from Shaw + Smith’s home vineyard, with intense stone fruit, complex smoky barrel notes and minerals taking the lead.

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Chardonnay

Adelaide Hills

Lenswood

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Sparkling wine

Solera

Chardonnay

Pinot noir

Pinot meunier

Henty

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Chardonnay

Macedon Ranges

Tasting note

Chardonnay

Mornington Peninsula

Perfectly pitched chardonnay from Dave Mackintosh, with flavour and elegance in equal measure.

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Chardonnay

Yarra Valley

One of the greats in top form – complex, smoky and nutty, this is chardonnay on a grand and impressive scale.

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Chardonnay

Beechworth

A savoury, textured and mineral chardonnay from 2020’s Young Gun of Wine.

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Chardonnay

Macedon Ranges

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