I've had this wine before but, interestingly, this wine showed a lot tighter than the previous bottle.
It's labelled "Wild Ferment" and there are certainly some super funky aromas hanging around, along with some matchsticky sulfur, citrus and white stonefruit. Most definitely super complex for a Chardonnay at this price point. The entry is quite linear and surprisingly, considering the nose, primarily structural, leading to a middle palate that is flavoursome but also very focused and acid-driven. Here we get moderately intense grapefruit and white peach notes, more funky flavours and light sulfur, along with astringent acidity and some oak-derived flavours. The acid structure takes the wine over a little and drives it through to a finish that is quite drying, perhaps with some phenolics coming into play.
I paid $A14 for this wine, and I would expect a technically correct but quite uninteresting Chardonnay at this price point. This wine totally overdelivers and presents not only good winemaking but some personality too. We had this with a snack of Italian bread and macadamia salsa, and the wine responded well to food, although it didn't soften as much as I thought it might in the face of oily food.
Yalumba
Price: $A14
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: December 2007
It's labelled "Wild Ferment" and there are certainly some super funky aromas hanging around, along with some matchsticky sulfur, citrus and white stonefruit. Most definitely super complex for a Chardonnay at this price point. The entry is quite linear and surprisingly, considering the nose, primarily structural, leading to a middle palate that is flavoursome but also very focused and acid-driven. Here we get moderately intense grapefruit and white peach notes, more funky flavours and light sulfur, along with astringent acidity and some oak-derived flavours. The acid structure takes the wine over a little and drives it through to a finish that is quite drying, perhaps with some phenolics coming into play.
I paid $A14 for this wine, and I would expect a technically correct but quite uninteresting Chardonnay at this price point. This wine totally overdelivers and presents not only good winemaking but some personality too. We had this with a snack of Italian bread and macadamia salsa, and the wine responded well to food, although it didn't soften as much as I thought it might in the face of oily food.
Yalumba
Price: $A14
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: December 2007
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