Expertly crafted and reflective of Yarra Valley's unique terroir, the Hoddles Creek Chardonnay 2024 boasts a vibrant blend of citrus and stone fruit. With a balanced palate, refreshing acidity, and hints of new oak, this Chardonnay is a complex and delicious addition to any wine collection.
“On the sample labels attached to the bottles of Pinot and Chardonnay, Franco talks about the ‘envelope’ of the wine. I’m not really sure what that means. Maybe he’s getting a lot of fan mail? Franco thinks this is the best Chardonnay since the 2021.
Juicy white fruit, grapefruit, aniseed, a little struck match, almond paste, cinnamon and clove spice. It’s packed with flavour, white nectarine and nutty spicy characters, a flinty grip to texture, quite some intensity and power here, and in some respects it seems more Beechworth than Yarra, or so I think. Pear and citrus, lime rind, with excellent length of flavour. It’s elemental as at now, and a little raw, though I reckon it will deliver with a couple of years in bottle. It’s a cracking release.” 95 Points - Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, April 2025, Drink: 2026 - 2035+
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 2024, 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 stabilised, fined and filtered.
