Description

This is the most Chablis like Chardonnay I’ve had from Australia. The grapes come from a beautiful site in Coldstream. They are whole bunch pressed in 500l French oak and allowed to ferment with indigenous yeasts. This is a delicious wine. The way this wine builds on the back palate, it has the quality of a Premier Cru Chablis. Initially the white fruits are quite pure and precise with a freshness. Then on the mid-palate the acid kicks in. And the finish is a flourish of beautifully rich and generous flavours. Mineral notes, white flowers and they just linger forever.

Started in 1998, YarraLoch 6 hectares of vines in three distinctly different sites across the Yarra. Most famously they were known for pioneering Arneis in Australia. The winery is in Gruyere (near Coldstream) and over the last few years they have been pretty quiet but they are capable of making stunning wines.

Yarra Valley 

A region that is just too big to generalise about. The difference between Upper and Lower Yarra can be the ability to ripen some grapes or not. Great wines are made in the Yarra but it is best to know the producers.

Chardonnay

The grape that you can plant anywhere, in any climate and do anything to and it will still taste like an OK wine. When people hit the sweet spot of site, climate, cropping and winemaking, Chardonnay becomes a magical wine that will age gracefully but charm you at any age. Chardonnays can range from cool climate lean and citrusy to warmer climate tropical and overt. Oak and lees can add flavouring as can malolactic fermentation