"It is what it is: the chardonnay you should buy, for any night of the week, for any occasion.
It’s chardonnay in a style that somehow manages to straddle various streams; it’s an arthouse chardonnay that crosses over into the mainstream. It does because it has flavour but it also has drive; it’s fresh and zippy but its stonefruit-and-apple flavours have bite. It’s the Yarra Valley with a nod to Chablis in a way; it has that easy I-don’t-need-to-try-too-hard confidence. There’s oak but it’s not boosted by it. There’s flavour but it’s chalky and taut. It is in short a gift that keeps on giving.” 93+ Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front, May 2022, Drink: 2023 - 2028+"
"Tight, green apple and stone fruit, a little spicy oak and flint/match stuff. Great texture, lime, grapefruit pith and pleasant bitterness, firm feel, long and intense with a citrus tang and raw almond. Terrific. Nervy, so much energy, but with flavour to burn." 94 Points No Worries - Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, May 2022
A better understanding of their vineyards has led Hoddles Creek Estate (Winemaker Franco D'Anna) to believe that certain blocks excel year after year. These blocks have always been treated separately to enable them to fine tune viticulture and winemaking in the thought of releasing some single block wines in the future. Well that time has come. Their Top Paddock vineyard was originally planted to 100 per cent Pinot Noir. In 2003, they decided to graft one block over to the Bernard clones of Chardonnay (95, 96, 277). Franco selected the best clones and the most balanced vines for cuttings. The block he selected was Easterly facing on the crest of the hill. Franco was always fascinated how Chardonnay on this block would go. The vineyard is 50 metres higher in altitude than the existing Chardonnay block.
Chardonnay from the Top Paddock has always had a different growth structure than their normal Chardonnay blocks. Positioned on top of the hill has meant the vines have had to work harder as the soils are poorer. Crop levels are never an issue with this block, with natural crop levels at one tone per acre. Minimal shoot thinning and positioning occurs in Spring. After this, they let the vines sort themselves out.
In the winery, they treat this wine as with all our Chardonnay. The Chardonnay is picked in the early morning, and refrigerated down to 2⁰C for 12 hours. Then it is gentle de-stemmed, not crushed and pressed into tank. The juice is left to settle clear for 7 days with no enzyme or acid addition. The wine is then fermented till dryness using cultured and natural yeasts. The wine remains in cask for 12 months with occasional battonage. The wine is not filtered, not fined, or stabilised before bottling.
The vintage 2021 was a delight. Cool weather without rain events or heat spikes, has resulted in a wine with substance. Fuller than the 2020 1ER Chardonnay but not without poise or structure. This wine will be long lived and think one of the best 1ER Chardonnay's they have made.
