The Levantine Hill Estate Chardonnay 2022 house style deliberately eschews the modern trend of taut and fine-boned expressions, offering a defiant reclamation of the middle ground where body, flavour and palate weight can coexist with structure, texture and measured acidity.
Tasting Notes
Nose
Rich, lifted, concentrated and intense. Yellow nectarine, chalk, olive brine, torikawa, nougat, tarragon and galangal with underlying toasty char, mascarpone and pastry complexity.
Palate
Plush silky texture over a medium-tensile acidity line that defines and supports an intensity and heft of boldness and weight. Flavours of fig, Red Delicious apple, fleshy peach, chamomile flowers, banana bread, cinnamon, praline and crème anglaise interplay with tactile calcareousness underpinning a biscuity texture. A lingering resonance of flavour on the long and textural palate.
Critic Note
“There is a meticulous approach to winemaking at this address, with no expense spared. And while this errs on the side of flashy chardonnay, there is an effortlessness in the glass and an accurate representation of a season that, while high on challenges, afforded a concentration only made possible by small yields. This is a beautiful wine. Crème fraîche, green mango, an earthy almond mealiness and white peach. And the length – it perseveres with tremendous line and grace.”
95 Points — Katrina Butler, Halliday Wine Companion
