95 points - Campbell Mattison (The Winefront) "Fabulous chardonnay. The cup runneth over. Slick, spritely, satiny and sustained. There’s flavour, there’s finesse, there’s a flourish to the finish. Lemon, lime, a sorbet-like aspect, nectarine and white peach, with a classy clip of spicy-sweet cedarwood oak. There’s almost a bacony aspect here, a smoked meat note, rosemary even, though it’s exquisitely pure of fruit. Potential for positive development is huge."
New single block wine for Hoddles Creek Estate. Originally the block was planted to Sauvignon Blanc, then pulled out and replanted with the Mendosa clone of Chardonnay on 101-14 rootstock. Different style to the Estate Chardonnay, 1ER and Syberia. Picked early (11.5 baume), whole bunch pressed to tank over night to settle the vineyard dust, then transferred to older barriques for fermentation.
It's a very cool block, facing East it only sees the morning sun and planted on a steep block with the rows terraced. Even at low sugars, we get ripeness and richness through the mid palate as flavour is well ahead of sugar in the ripening phase. The wine should age gracefully for 7-10 years.