By Farr GC Cote Vineyard Chardonnay 2022
You get in trouble for making links to Australian wine being like Burgundy, and I agree, we don't make wine like Burgundy. All I'm saying, is that when I sat outside with dinner and had a glass of the GC, it reminded me of the time I sat in the square in Meursault and chose the 'expensive' glass of wine. That smell of chalky cellars and stone fruit mixed with barrel char and something match stick like. A softness and tension that's more like a gentle pull than either or. At this level of quality, hyperbole is all we have, and I hate that. It appears foolish at best and untrustworthy at worst. So here goes nothing.
A green gold colour in the glass, tending towards straw, it's crystal clear, and if liquid can appear chiselled, then this is it. The nose is restrained yet detailed, a common thread from this house. It's precise yet comforting. It's redolent of light caramel (I shouldn't lead off with that, but it's there) ripe nectarine, struck match; faintly, and barrel spice. I guess the caramel note is more appropriately a creaminess with warm barrel notes, but who has time to explain it all. The palate leaves you feeling relaxed, a lovely softness and masked acidity that makes your mouth water, but not feel like you've encountered too much acid. It?s alarmingly supple and easy to drink and the way it sits quietly in the glass makes it easy to see how these types of great wines can easily be overlooked for loud, brash, show ponies. Exquisite, perhaps, peerless, unquestionably. Ben Knight for Nick Farr.