Hoddles Creek Chardonnay 2008

This wine smells and tastes like a pomelo. I know this because I was shopping at my local market this morning and one particular stall was selling nothing but enormous, yellow pomelos. I tasted one and would have bought some if my plaid Nanna basket on wheels were not already filled with other goodies. Wikipedia accurately describes pomelos as tasting like "sweet, mild grapefruit." Pomelo. Like typing it, like saying it. 

I like tasting it too, but there are some other smells and flavours here as well. Spicy, toasty oak, for starters, evident on both nose and palate and needing some time to integrate further into the wine's flavour profile. Maybe some white nectarine-like flavours, softening the pomelo and adding a bit of lusciousness. It's all varietal and all there.

What I like most about this wine, though, are its bones. Even as a young'un, this packs a real punch, especially in the mouth, with fresh flavours that show inviting immediacy and impressive intensity. There's a particularly good tangy sourness to the flavour profile that is absolutely mouthwatering, in the way a Sao with butter and Vegemite can be mouthwatering. A tight line straight through the mouth leads to a finish that vibrates with citrus fruit and lovely oak. 

It's so very young right now and, although it's tasty (and a great accompaniment to sardines on toast), I'll be leaving my stash alone for a few months (if not years) to flesh out. Should be outstanding at the right moment.

Hoddles Creek
Price: $A18
Closure: Stelvin

Leave a comment

Recent Entries

  • Jimbour Station Shiraz 2008

    I like the idea of this wine. Its fruit is sourced from a single estate vineyard in the (I believe undeclared) Darling Downs region of...

  • Hoddles Creek Chardonnay 2008

    This wine smells and tastes like a pomelo. I know this because I was shopping at my local market this morning and one particular stall...

  • Cardinham Estate Sangiovese 2007

    Refreshingly, the back label doesn't lie; it reads straightforwardly: "Everything about this wine seems to be built around dark chocolate and black cherries." And so...

  • Unison Rosé 2008

    I have previously tasted the 2006 version of this wine and, swirling this more recent edition tonight, my earlier note remains relevant to a large...

  • Dominique Portet Shiraz 2002

    Sadly, I only had one bottle of this left - and I opened it just now only to find that it was corked. Based on...

Close