Chardonnay in 2023 - The Year in Review
31 JULY 2024 | BY JOHN S. HUMPHREY, PUBLISHED ON THEWINEFRONT.COM.AU
A panel gathered in Brisbane recently to review 30 top Chardonnays, almost all of which were Australian. The aim of the tasting panel looks to asses if producers are making progress within the premium-to-super-premium Chardonnay bracket…whilst comparing against reviewed work of The WineFront (TWF) review team.
We have been permitted to share some very top-line details of the article, but you can read all of the comments/reviews/details here. The below exert was written by John S Humphrey, and published on The WineFront:
According to Wine Australia, after more than a decade Chardonnay has overtaken Shiraz and resumed its place as the top wine grape variety by crush size in 2024. The Chardonnay crush size was up 31%. Exactly what this means is hard to know, but if the position is maintained it seems likely that Australian Chardonnay reviewers will have more Chardonnay wines to review in coming years and this is no bad thing.
The seasons in 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 (covering all but one of the Chardonnays in the Review line-up) saw La Nina weather patterns which, in Australia’s winegrowing regions, are generally associated with higher-than-average winter, spring and early summer rainfalls and cooler daytime temperatures. This is only the third triple La Nina since 1900 and so it is comparatively rare. The 2023-24 season saw a reversion to a strong El Nino and it looks likely we will see another reversion to La Nina weather patterns in 2024-25 (though this is yet to be confirmed).
The Australian premium Chardonnay scene is currently a dynamic one. This is reflected in the presence of the newer producers of premium Chardonnay included in the current Review line-up – such as Granjoux, Gentle Folk Wine and Place of Changing Winds. It is also reflected in the activities of many of the established producers of premium Chardonnay in the Review line-up and Chardonnay producers, winemakers and their teams more generally who restlessly continue to make small changes to their viticultural and winemaking practices in their ongoing, perhaps never-ending, quest to make better Chardonnays for consumers.
The 2023 Review tasting line-up consisted of the following 30 wines, with their TWF rating:
Pierro VR Reserve Chardonnay 2020 | GW 97
Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2021 | GW 97
Giaconda Estate Vineyard Chardonnay 2021 | GW 97+
Bannockburn SRH Chardonnay 2021 | CM 96
Granjoux Chardonnay 2021 | CM 96
Penfolds Reserve Bin A Chardonnay 2021 (Decanter World Wine Awards Winner)
Ashton Hills Reserve Chardonnay 2022 | CM 96
Giant Steps Tarraford Chardonnay 2022 | CM 96
Giant Steps Applejack Chardonnay 2022 | CM 96
Murdoch Hill ‘The Rocket’ Chardonnay 2022 | MB 96
Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay 2022 | GW 96
Montalto ‘The Eleven’ Chardonnay 2022 | CM 96
Gentle Folk Piccadilly Chardonnay 2022 | MB 96
Tolpuddle Vineyard Chardonnay 2022 | MB 96
Bannockburn SRH Chardonnay 2022 | CM 97
By Farr Chardonnay 2022 | CM 96
Bodega Chacra Chardonnay 2022 | GW 96
Savaterre Chardonnay 2022 | GW 97
Sorrenberg Chardonnay 2022 | MB 97
Cobaw Ridge Chardonnay 2022 | MB 96+
Sentio Beechworth Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2022 | CM 96
McHenry Hohnen Burnside Chardonnay 2022 | GW 96
Giaconda Estate Vineyard Chardonnay 2022 | GW 97+
Place of Changing Winds Larderdark Chardonnay 2022 | MB 96
Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay 2022 | CM 96
Stella Bella Luminosa Chardonnay 2022 (Decanter World Wine Awards Winner)
Tapanappa Tiers Chardonnay 2023 | GW 96
Tapanappa Tiers 1.5M Chardonnay 2023 | GW 96
Cullen Kevin John Chardonnay 2023 | GW 96
Bubb + Pooley Chardonnay 2023 | GW 96
NOTE: CM: Cambpell Mattinson; GW: Gary Walsh; MB: Mike Bennie.
‘Around the Chardonnay grounds’ (An exert of full article):
Beechworth
Though we have a big contingent from Beechworth – some from 2021 and others from 2022 it could easily have been much larger. The excellent 2022 Domenica and Brokenwood Inigo Vineyard Chardonnays just missed out on a qualifying rating and the 2022 Schmölzer & Brown Brunnen Chardonnay, which did get a qualifying rating, has not yet been released to the public. Rick Kinzbrunner’s 2022 Giaconda Nantua Les Deux Chardonnay was not rated by TWF but was excellent and I thought seriously about adding it to the line-up. A. Rodda Smith’s Vineyard Chardonnay 2022 would also have been a worthy addition had space permitted.
Beechworth and the Chardonnay grape seem to have a special relationship and interestingly have demonstrated an ability to produce a number of different styles of premium Chardonnay.
The 2021 Granjoux Chardonnay (which was the initial Granjoux Chardonnay release), is a newcomer to these Review line-ups and was included after Campbell Mattinson rated it into the line-up. The Granjoux vineyard is a relatively new project of Peter Bartholemew and Donna Pelka with the benefit of input from viticulturist Mark Walpole and winemaker Adrian Rodda. The vines are individually staked and close planted. A small make (90 dozen) it will be interesting to keep abreast of progress at Granjoux.
The results were as follows:
97 – 97+ Giaconda Estate Vineyard Chardonnay 2021, Cullen Kevin John Chardonnay 2023, Giaconda Estate Vineyard Chardonnay 2022, Pierro VR Reserve Chardonnay 2020, Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2021, Murdoch Hill ‘The Rocket’ Chardonnay 2022 and Granjoux Chardonnay 2021.
96 – 96+ Sorrenberg Chardonnay 2022, Savaterre Chardonnay 2022, Tolpuddle Chardonnay 2022, By Farr Chardonnay 2022, Tapanappa Tiers Chardonnay 2023, Montalto ‘The Eleven Chardonnay 2022, Tapanappa Tiers Chardonnay 2022, Bannockburn SRH Chardonnay 2022, Gentle Folk Piccadilly Chardonnay 2022, McHenry Hohnen Burnside Chardonnay 2022, Sentio Beechworth Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2022, Place of Changing Winds Larderdark Chardonnay 2022, Bodega Chacra Chardonnay 2021.
95+ – 96 Penfold’s Reserve Bin A Chardonnay 2021, Giant Steps Applejack Chardonnay 2022, Cobaw Ridge Chardonnay 2022, Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay 2022, Giant Steps Tarraford Chardonnay 2022, Bannockburn SRS Chardonnay 2021, Stella Bella Luminosa Chardonnay 2022, Tapanappa Tiers 1.5M Chardonnay 2023, Bubb + Pooley Chardonnay 2023, Ashton Hills Reserve Chardonnay 2022.
As we’d hope (and expect), all six of the Beechworth Chardonnay were in the top two groups. Our 2021 Granjoux Chardonnay showed very well on the day, and are wrapped with the groups conclusions.
Humphrey continues…“To finish in the top group a wine must score consistently highly. As might be expected there can be and were some reasonable variations in the scoring of individual wines between Panel members.”
- ENDS -
To read the full article published on WineFront.com.au click here.
Image credit: Erin Davis-Hartwig.