The 2021 St Hubert's Yarra Valley Chardonnay is a pale-medium straw appearance with green hues. Classic Lower Yarra white peach, nectarine, and pear combine with the hallmark tinned pineapple of the Gingin clone. Nutty nougat barrel ferment characters. Framed nicely with some French oak spice and toast. The palate is generous, even, and textured, with nectarine, citrus and pineapple flavours. Although quite fleshy, the wine maintains a clean acid line. Light fruit and oak tannins promote a clean finish.
"Valley floor here. Aiming for a fuller flavoured chardonnay style..." Mike Bennie “With the trend to mean, lean, green, tending to look like sav blanc, there’s still plenty of punters out there who like the old school, not orange coloured and oaky, but with flavour” - Winemaker Greg Jarrett "...not beating around the bush. Toasty, stone fruit dominant, a bit of ripe, green apple and juicy lime. Fleshy texture in the palate, a cool finish, lots of flavour but refreshing here. Washes over the palate nicely. Good sense of detail and varietal character." 92 Points - Mike Bennie, The Wine Front, October 2022, Drink: 2022 - 2026
Hubert de Castella's passion for the Yarra Valley saw him establish St Huberts in 1862. By the late 1800s it had grown to be the largest estate in the area. The wines enjoyed immediate and on-going success at wine shows both domestically and abroad. The onset of the Great Depression, the increasing popularity of fortified wine and the emerging profitability of dairy farming saw the vineyard revert to grazing in the 1920s. It wasn't until the 1960s that the Yarra Valley again rose to prominence as a wine region and St Huberts was once again one of the pioneers.
Settled weather during flowering resulted in good to very good yields. A cool start to summer, with very few days of extreme heat led to slow and steady ripening. Overall a truly lovely vintage.
Fruit for the 2021 St Hubert's Yarra Valley Chardonnay was sourced from premium sites in the Lower Yarra Valley. A selection of clones was used, with around 50% being Gingin and 25% each Bernard 76 and I clone. A mix of de-stemmed fruit and whole berry pressing is employed, then high solids juice was fermented in a mixture of new and seasoned French oak. The wine spent its entire oak maturation on yeast lees and was racked just prior to blending. A small portion of the wine went through malo-lactic fermentation to add texture and palate weight.
Fermented and matured for eight months in 100% French oak barriques, with around 30% new.
Drink now to enjoy vibrant varietal flavours or allow depth and complexity to grow over the next three to five years or so. Winery Notes
