Hoddles Creek Estate Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2016 has citrus and stone-fruit on the nose, this wine has a rounded palate with good length and acidity; a light touch of new oak adds complexity.
REVIEWS
"A warmer year in a cooler site is often a winning combination. No 1er made this year, as I understand it.
Ripe grapefruit, peach, almond nougat, fennel, a dusting of spice, slight struck match. Light and fresh, good burst of peach and citrus, crunch of limey acidity, some flinty texture, and a gently viscous and nougat tinged aftertaste. It has length and flavour, and feels open for play straight away, though showed even better the next day. Like this a lot. Touch and go for 94 points." 93+ Points - Gary Walsh, The Winefront, April 2017, Drink: 2018 - 2026
"This wine deserves a little care and attention before drinking as it has more complexity than is normally seen in wines of this price, thus needs to be treated accordingly. There are a lot of secondary characters in this wine, immediately evident on opening, though the fruit is a little subdued at first so decanting will help the wine to bloom. Attractive almond meal aromas introduce a delicately fruity palate that is fresh, taut and flavoursome. It has lemon, sugared-almond and fresh pear flavours. A savoury vein runs through the length of the wine giving balance to the sweet-fruit. It is a well-crafted drop that is a steal at this price." 92 Points - Toni Paterson, The Real Review
Hoddles Creek Estate is located in the Upper Yarra, which is higher, cooler and more marginal than the lower Yarra, The vineyard is cropped at less than 2.5 tonnes per acre. Being in a marginal climate, requires extensive canopy management. The vineyard is trellised to Scott-Henry, to promote fruit exposure and lessen disease risk.
All fruit is hand-picked in the morning and immediately de-stemmed and lightly crushed into the press. No enzymes are used; instead the juice is allowed to settle naturally. In 2016, there were approximately fifteen different ferments, these were allowed to start naturally on full solids. After a select period of time, some of the juice was inoculated with cultured yeast then transferred to wood for fermentation. The wine is then left on lees for approximately 11 months. Just before bottling all clones are blended, cold stabilized, fined and filtered. Winery Notes
