2021 Cornelius Sutton Chardonnay
| Awards |  |
| Tasting Note | Complex wine displaying a plethora of aromas from flint and burnt matchstick to white peach, spice, barrel ferment notes all balanced by an elegant oak background. The palate is sophisticated with a juicy acid backbone. White peach, flint notes and a creamy mid palate makes way to a spicy oak finish. This wine has been built for cellaring and will be rewarded by patience. |
| Technical Note |
Winemaking Region: Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria. Clone: P58 - Soil Type: Self mulching black vertosol derived from tertiary basalt. Oak use: 8 months in Allier barriques: Winemaking: Hand picked at optimal ripeness, whole bunch pressed with the best juice run to barrel. Fermentation took place over 10 days by wild yeasts. Lees stirring occurred every 3-4 weeks and spent 18 months on lees. It was then blended, fined, filtered and bottled. Post Bottling: 13.0% ale, 3.21 pH, 7.1 g/1 acid. |
| Reviews |
From a single site planted in 1988. Natural-yeast fermentation, 33% mlf and 15 months in French puncheons (33% new). Weighty and complex with its bouquet of white peach, pears, lemon peel and hazelnuts. Despite its obvious power on the palate, it's beautifully delineated, finishing structured, saline and long. It was my pick of the three single-vineyard Cornelius chardonnays last year and so it is again. By a whisker. Philip Rich |