Sunday, March 2, 2014

Penfolds 2011 Yattarna Chardonnay

You'll have to wait until May 1 to buy some of this; but if you are a Yattarna buyer I'd put in an order now to make sure you don't miss out. It's a classic cool-climate chardonnay made in a style Penfolds' white winemaker Kim Schroeter describes as "a tight, linear and restrained".   Penfolds' white wine flagship is once again made almost entirely of Tasmanian fruit (96 per cent with 4 per cent from the Adelaide Hills) and is a seamless, stylish, structured wine that reflects the quality of the cool-climate fruit used. It is pure, tight and textural (aided by lees stirring) and the fruit from a great chardonnay vintage in Tasmania has soaked up the 64 % new oak. The end result is flinty, chalky wine of great finesse. This has power and length and must be among the best Penfolds chardonnays of all time. $150.

No comments: