Chardonnay, Block 2, 2023
Clean, vibrant white and yellow stone fruit (more white than yellow), with notes of citrus blossom. The palate is expressive but with a lovely purity and softness. Elegant and pretty with a crushed stone minerality and noble vegetal quality to the finish giving grip and definition to the elegant fruit. An east facing slope (cool site) planted in 1992. Schist soils (big stones heat up during the day and cool down at night.) Whole bunch pressed. Fermentation in French oak (4% new) and 17 months ageing in barrel.
critic reviews
While the opening is rather appealing to the 2023 Chardonnay Block 2 with welcoming puppy fat, this is all about its sense of tension, held tightly together as if it's an Anjou Chenin on schist, giving similar tension and chili spice. Pure, succulent fruit is held within a tight corset. The finish is long and savory, with almond pastry layers lingering long alongside the pear and nectarine notes. (100% Mendoza clone, 17 months in barrel, 4% new oak).
The 2023 Block 2 Chardonnay is toasty and tropical, with a skein of fleshy acidity within the folds of the fruit. This is texturally wide, with white pineapple, peach, hay and caper brine, and framed by toasty oak. There is lime zest and toasted nuts. The wine is, at this stage, a wine of parts, and it feels to me as if it will be a more cohesive proposition in a year's time. It's very ripe but leafy too. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.