2021 Granjoux Chardonnay Reviews
MARCH 2024 | BY JENI PORT, HALLIDAY WINE COMPANION
“Yet another top-class Beechworth chardonnay name to add to an already impressive list. This is restrained, complex and well composed, as Granjoux launches seamlessly into a chardonnay of lifted aromas bright in citrus, grilled nuts amid grapefruit, white peach, nectarine, and almond meal with a whisper of savouriness. Intriguing. Crisp and taut in acidity, it boasts a juicy heart with a touch of phenolic pear-skin grip – an added bonus – and fully integrated oak that brings texture and length. Impressive.”
Awarded 96 points.
JANUARY 2024 | BY HUON HOOKE, THE REAL REVIEW
“Light-ish straw-yellow colour with aromas of smoky smallgoods, malt, cedar wood and lemon/grapefruit flavours, electric acidity powering a long and energetic palate. It's full and ample, with great intensity and penetrating fruit, the finish long-lasting. An impressive wine. (First vintage, 1086 bottles produced).”
Awarded 95 points.
NOVEMBER 2023 | BY ERIN LARKIN, ROBERT PARKER - THE WINE ADVOCATE
“I am thrilled to taste this wine today! All of what I know about it is exciting. It's a rebuilt historical site from the 1860s in Beechworth.
Viticulture by Mark Walpole, winemaking by Adrian Rodda and owned by Peter Bartholomew. The Chardonnay vineyard has been trellised using single stakes for each vine. I (like, I suppose, the rest of everyone) am looking forward to visiting. On the nose of this 2021 Chardonnay is preserved citrus and salted yellow peach, brine, leafy tobacco, crushed nuts and green olive tapenade. In the mouth, the wine has piercing intensity of acid -it is juicy and spooling, totally composed, powerful and long -it veritably whistles past, the Doppler effect in full use. A brilliant first release, this is totally pleasurable to drink and taste. Balanced, it is both weighty and lithe through the finish. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.”
Awarded 96+ points.
NOVEMBER 2023 | BY CAMPBELL MATTINSON, THE WINEFRONT
“There’s a stone-walled vineyard more or less in the town of Beechworth, or in the gorge to be more precise, and the question every wine lover asks as they drive through town is: what’s that? The site itself is historic – there was a vineyard here in the 1800s, which is remarkable – and is both sloped and small, and it’s been planted by Mark Walpole, who chose individual wooden stakes for each vine. Walpole did the viti., Adrian Rodda made the wine, but the project belongs to Peter Bartholomew and Donna Pelka. The name Granjoux comes from Ambrose Granjoux – the Frenchman who originally planted the place in 1860. I’ve been planning to head to Beechworth for a couple of years now to photograph this vineyard because it really is a remarkable location, and now vineyard. A Clos-like vineyard is one thing but the wine in the glass is always another.
There were 1086 bottles of this chardonnay made.
The wine in the glass here is a revelation. It is stunning. It announces itself with its intensity of fruit flavour, it marries this flavour to a thick, velvety texture, it feels dry, it feels tight, and it finishes emphatically. Crushed fennel, brine, stonefruit, hay, white flowers and raw cedar characters put on a wonderful show, the world its oyster, the glass its stage. There’s a reason Ambrose Granjoux planted this site all those years ago; it grows great grapes. This modern incarnation proves it over again. This is the first release, and its wow territory. Indeed – excuse the hyperbolé – I’m so convinced that a star here has been born that I’ll always remember where and when I was on the day, I first tasted a Granjoux wine.”
Awarded 96 points.
AUGUST 2023 | BY MAX ALLEN, JANCISROBINSON.COM
“From a small, 1.1-hectare walled vineyard of close-planted (1.5 x 0.91 m), single-stake vines planted in 2017 on the site of a historic 19th-century vineyard. First commercial release. Fine, restrained, chalky lemon-puff aromas, good, lean, and savoury on the tongue, with a sense of richness and length, but a little closed right now. Will open well over the next few years. Drink 2025 – 2033.”
Awarded 17+ points.