20 top Australian Chardonnays

To celebrate Australia Day here's a feature I wrote a year ago on Australian chardonnay - not as out of date as you might think as many of the vintages will only just have worked through.

"As you can see from my Guardian article today, I’m a born-again Chardonnay lover since returning from Australia last month.

Did the sun go to my head? I don’t think so. Australia now produces some of the most gorgeous, seductive, beautifully balanced Chardonnays I’ve tasted. Not cheap, mind you, but in comparison to some of the white burgundies I’ve been tasting this week, great value.

The problem is that many of the best haven’t yet made it over here. Most of them were 2009s and ‘10s which haven’t yet arrived on our shelves. A few are from producers whose wines don’t get exported or are available in such tiny quantities that they’re almost impossible to get hold of. Something we want to watch in the UK. There are many other markets for Australian wine who will snap up bottles like these without worrying about the price. Some wines you can now buy more cheaply in the UK than Australia which can’t be right.

Anyway, here’s the pick of the wines I got to try, organised by region, I don’t do scores, though I obviously have personal preferences. They wouldn’t be in this list if I didn’t think they were good. Search wine-searcher.com for stockists."

MARGARET RIVER
Western Australia’s premium winegrowing region for Chardonnay (though there are some interesting wines being made further south)

Cherubino Margaret River Chardonnay 2010 (not available currently in UK. $49 in Australia)
A totally modern Australian Chardonnay from one of Western Australia’s star winemakers Larry Cherubino (named winemaker of the year by Australian wine critic James Halliday last year). Whole bunch pressing, no settling, no fining, naturally fermented. Incredible freshness and delicacy yet sensuously creamy. One to hunt down

Cullen Kevin John Chardonnay 2009 (£55-65, $95-99 in Australia)
The wine I think I currently like best of Vanya Cullen’s wines despite being a longstanding fan of the Semillon-Sauvignon blend. A rich, sumptuous serious chardonnay from one of Australia’s leading biodynamic estates. Eye-wateringly expensive, sadly - on a par with Yattarna (below)

Flametree Margaret River Chardonnay 2010 (this vintage is not yet available in UK, around $20 in Australia)
This was the vintage I tasted in Aus which was cracking but still had some way to go. You can buy the 2009 vintage I recommend in the Guardian for 20 from Aus Wine Online. Rich, opulent with some lovely fruit character - citrus, ripe pears, canteloupe melon. Both have good ageing potential

Fraser Gallop Winery Chardonnay 2011 (not yet available in UK, $221 by the case from the winery)
If you tasted this blind you’d be hard-pushed to locate it in Australia. Consciously made with more restrained oak in an almost Chablis-like style it’s a singingly pure, crisp, clean wine that would be hugely flexible with food. (They suggest oysters)

Vasse Felix Heytesbury Margaret River Chardonnay 2009 (about £24-26, $45 in Australia)
I’d have put this award-winning wine in my Guardian article but we’re only on the 2008 vintage in the UK. The 2010 has done even better but buy any one of them you can lay your hands on. 100% wild yeast fermented. Gloriously rich and textured but with a perfectly pitched acidity. Sexy stuff.

ADELAIDE HILLS
The premium area for chardonnay in south Australia.

First Drop Mere et Fils Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2010 (£14.99 www.thesecretcellar.co.uk, $25AD in Australia)
Classic creamy elegant Chardonnay from the irreverent First Drop boys “we have fun with the packaging but we’re deadly serious about the booze.” “Restrained sophisticated and best drunk in the shower” according to the website. No sulphur, wild yeasts. Great value.

Yalumba FDW (7C) 2008 (available in the UK from February at around £18, $24-25 in Australia)
Another gorgeous creamy Chardonnay with an elegant lift, born from a realisation says winemaker Louisa Rose, that “none of us [in the winery] were taking Chardonnay home and drinking it”. You would this one. FDW? Stands for Fine Dry White.

McLAREN VALE
Not renowned for its Chardonnay though, as these wines show, there are some more than decent ones being made.

Battle of Bosworth Chardonnay 2010 (N/A in UK. About $25 in Australia)
Slightly funky Chardonnay in the natural wine mould though winemaker Joch Bosworth does employ sulphur as needed. Loads of creamy, leesy texture. More than a third of the first vintage of Penfold’s Yattarna came from the same now organically cultivated vineyard.

Paxton Thomas Block Chardonnay 2009 (N/A in UK About $20-30 in Australia)
Good Chardonnay doesn’t just come from the cooler regions in Oz as this beautifully crafted example from Paxton proves. Vines are subject to biodynamic treatments. The 2008 was spot on too.

MORNINGTON PENINSULA
One of the most expensive vineyard areas in Oz, hence the hefty prices.

Kooyong Clonale Chardonnay 2010 17 Wine Society £18.40 Theatre of Wine, £18.50 L’Art du Vin, Great Western Wine, £18.99 Cambridge Wine Merchants, about $25 in Australia.
Recommended in my Guardian piece today though I’ve added a couple of other stockists. Could easily be white burgundy. Really subtle, elegant, creamy, beautifully in balance. The Pinots, which I’ll be writing about, are lovely too. Great value.

Ocean Eight Verve Chardonnay 2010 23 Theatre of Wine, $37 in Australia
Classy, cool climate, citrussy Chardonnay from this boutique Mornington Peninsula estate. Subtle and restrained - and just 12.2% which is remarkable.

Ten Minutes by Tractor Wallis Chardonnay 2009 (£168.84 per case of six in bond with Bancroft Wines = approx £40 a bottle, $52 in Australia
The more mineral elegant of 10 Minutes two single vineyard Chardonnays though I liked the richer, lusher McCutcheon Vineyard 2009 better with food (especially rare tuna).

Yabby Lake Block 1 Chardonnay 2009 £46 swig.co.uk (which doesn’t look a bad price when you see it’s $83.33 from the winery)
Apparently only 748 bottles were made of Yabby Lake’s top end Chardonnay - and you can only buy a maximum of two. Worth it I’d say if you can run to it though the single vineyard Yabby Lake Chardonnay which is pretty gorgeous too is ‘only‘ 26.50. “We don’t want them to be better than our single vineyard wines” says winemaker Tom Carson “we want them to be different”. Collectors items.

YARRA VALLEY
If I had to pick one region for chardonnay in Australia this would be it.

De Bortoli Reserve Release Chardonnay 2008 £23.49 simplywinedirect.com, $40 in Australia
One of the most impressive things about the trip was that it wasn’t just small boutique operations that were making great Chardonnay. Large companies are too as De Bortoli proves with this beautifully balanced wine. "We are paranoid about making fat Chardonnays” says winemaker Steve Webber.

Chandon Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2010 (not available in UK), $19-25 in Australia
This tends to be eclipsed by producer Domaine Chandon’s sparkling wines but I reckon it’s the best wine of the range - quintessential Yarra Valley Chardonnay. Confusingly it’s still marketed as Green Point in the UK and only available in older vintages which doesn’t help. Good value in Oz though.

Giant Steps Arthur’s Creek Chardonnay 2010 (currently on offer at £25 from thegoodwineshop.co.uk. About $40 In Australia
I mentioned the Sexton Vineyard in my Guardian feature and the cheaper Innocent Bystander Willing Participant Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2010 which is excellent value but my own favourite of Phil Sexton’s single vineyard bottlings was the Arthur’s Creek which is apparently the coolest of the sites. It has incredible purity and persistence.

Oakridge Lieu-Dit Chardonnay 2010 (not available in UK. About $44 in Australia)
Winemaker David Bicknell is apparently known as Mr Chardonnay a well-deserved accolade judging by this near-perfect bottling. Oakridge was also nominated Winery of the Year in this year’s The Age and Sydney Morning Herald Good Wine guide. Minimal intervention - no malo no acidification, natural yeasts, It’s lush - goodness it’s gorgeous - but still manages to be refreshingly crisp.

Wedgetail Estate Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2009 (not available in UK. About $40 in Australia)
A classically Burgundian Chardonnay (if that’s not an insult to the Aussies) from owner/winemaker Guy Lamothe. From a cool dry hilly area in the north west of the valley. Elegant, pure, rich but restrained. Just 12.8%

Mac Forbes Woori Yallock Chardonnay 2010 £23.90 slurp.co.uk $44 in Australia
My favourite of the two Mac Forbes single vineyard Chardonnays though the Hoddles Creek was also pretty impressive. Restrained use of oak (only 22% new) resulting in a beautifully integrated wine with a really fresh, citrussy finish.

And from no specific region . . .

Penfold’s Yattarna 2008 £48-77 in the UK (an extraordinary price range) Majestic has it for £55, $129.99 from the cellar door
Is Yattarna better than any of the above wines? Debatable. Is it worth twice as much as most of them? I’d say not. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a delicious Chardonnay but its role as ‘white Grange’ undoubtedly distorts its market value. A much better deal in the UK than Australia though which must be galling.

I didn’t visit Tasmania or New South Wales on this trip hence the absence of recommendations from the Hunter Valley, Orange, etc.

And if you want some ideas as to what to eat with these rather nice bottles you'll find some suggestions here.

 

Which foods pair best with high alcohol red wines?

Despite the growing concern about alcohol levels in wine many reds still clock in at 14.5% or more, a level at which they can become an unbalanced pairing for traditional European food. Many traditionalist would say that they are therefore not ‘food wines’ but as with other types of wine it depends how well they’re made and whether overall the wine is in balance. Châteauneuf-du-Pâpe for example rarely hits the shelves at under 14% but wears its alcohol lightly.

In general wines of this power benefit from at least a couple of years bottle ageing - it’s the combination of high alcohol and aggressive tannins that can overwhelm the food you’re eating. I’ve drunk many an Australian Shiraz of 7 to 8 years old that has behaved like a pussycat with food.

The best type of dishes in my view to drink with big reds are:

• Rare meat especially beef - e.g. a chargrilled steak (rare meat softens the effect of big tannins)

• Slow cooked but not heavily sauced meat (lamb and pork as well as beef) Not heavily sauced because if you have an intense reduction and a full-bodied red you can barely taste the meat you’re eating

• Meat cooked with a sweet marinade or baste - e.g. barbecued ribs Sweetness will enhance the acidity in the wine, making it taste fresher.
• Meat or ‘meaty’ fish like tuna cooked with a spicy rub or crust. A touch of spice offsets a big fruity red nicely though not a hot ‘wet’ curry with a lot of spicy sauce which will just create an sense of overload on the palate.

• Haggis! (Yes, really . . . )

• Strongly flavoured vegetarian dishes based on dark Portabella mushrooms or roast or baked aubergines

• Well matured hard cheeses or sheep's cheeses. Cheese can be a minefield for red wine as regular visitors to this site will know. A full bodied red will overwhelm delicate goats’ cheeses and are likely to clash horribly with a well-matured ‘stinky’ washed rind cheese or a punchy blue but should be OK with a dry, clean tasting hard cheese, especially a sheep's cheese (the easiest cheese to pair with red wine)

• Dark chocolate. A controversial pairing but many swear by big jammy reds and dark, not oversweet chocolate. Not for me but try it!

And the dishes that don’t match full-bodied reds?

Lighter fish and vegetable-based dishes, lighter meats like chicken and veal, milder cheeses and dishes with light creamy sauces.

Image © Christian Delbert - Fotolia.com

Chablis at Nobu

Sometimes you go to a wine dinner with some trepidation wondering if the wine will stand up to the food but I was pretty optimistic that Domaine Long-Depaquit’s Chablis would survive at Nobu (the original Metropolitan hotel restaurant in London, not LA, sadly!)

Not that it’s always an easy ride. As habitués of Nobu will know this is powerfully flavoured food with an exotic twist on Japanese staples like sashimi and a lot of richly smokey meat dishes. I have drunk fruitier whites like Sancerre (Jolivet's) and more full-bodied ones like Smith Haut-Lafitte with some success with Nobu’s food before, along with softer styles of red Bordeaux. Would even mature Chablis stand up to the bigger dishes?

We kicked off with three 2009 premier crus, Les Beugnons (a sub-division of Les Vaillons), Les Vaillons itself and Les Vaucopins, an impressive trio and the first vintages for which winemaker Matthieu Mangenot was completely responsible. Apart from the terroirs, the main difference was the oak treatment - les Beugnons had none, Les Vaillons 10% and Les Vaucoupins about 15%. All were brilliant with the oysters, as you’d expect, but I found the structure and minerality of the Vaucoupins made it the best partner for the three sashimi dishes, yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno, new style salmon and scallops and seabass sashimi with dry miso.

We had two grand crus with the next couple of dishes, the Les Blanchots 07 and a Les Clos 08. The latter went particularly well with a lobster salad with spicy lemon dressing but was thrown slightly off-track by a dish of rock shrimp tempura with three quite challenging dips including jalapeno again. The Les Blanchots worked better with that.

Two bottlings of Moutonne next which is part of the Vaudesir and Preuses crus - a magnum of 2006 and an ‘02 which I thought stole the show with an umami-rich dish of poussin with truffle teriyaki (like other aged white burgundy mature chablis has its own umami notes) It also handled a challenging dish of dover sole with red chilli shiso.

The poussin also went really well with a lively, graceful 2008 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru Lavaux Saint-Jacques from Bichot which was wheeled out with the final meat dishes. A good move with a meal of this length, it has to be said (there was an insane amount of food). Both the poussin and a dish of beef toban yaki had markedly smokey notes that were particularly well suited to the wine.

There were puddings at this point which were served with a mystery bottle which turned out to be a 2000 Tokaji Oremus 5 puttonyos but by this point no-one was up to much matching.

So what might you take from all this? Well if I were eating in Nobu or similar modern Asian restaurants like Zuma or Roka I wouldn’t be worrying overmuch about individual terroirs. The key factors in the success of these matches was minerality, weight and age. With the richness of Nobu’s food I think a little oak helped but in a more conventional Japanese restaurant you could happily do without it. The older vintages, especially the ’02 were lovely with the richer fish and poultry dishes but then they’re not going to be available or affordable on the average restaurant winelist - certainly not Nobu’s.

Personally I’d be more than happy to drink premier cru Chablis through half to two thirds of a meal of this type then switch, as we did, to red burgundy. What you don’t want with this type of food is aggressive tannins.

Incidentally there are some other good suggestions on the Albert Bichot website for food matches for these wines.

I ate at Nobu as a guest of Domaine Long-Depaquit

More tips about matching rosé

I’ll be doing a major round-up on my trip to Provence next week buthere are a few more thoughts on matching rosé and food, an update of mylast overview

Just like any other type of wine rosé comes in different styles from the very pale wines I’ve been tasting over the last few days to deep-coloured wines which are more like a red. In both instances some will be dry and others less so.

• If your rosé is very pale and dry like a Côtes de Provence you can treat it like a dry crisp white. That means that by and large it will go with raw and lightly cooked seafood and vegetables
• If it’s dry but darker and more fruity such as rosés from the southern Rhone and Languedoc it will work with slightly more robust versions of those dishes: say grilled prawns or roast red peppers.
• If it’s very dark indeed in colour such as many rosés you find from the New World the chances are it will be made from riper grapes and allowed longer skin contact which will make it taste stronger and sweeter. In this case you could treat it more like a fruity red. Barbecued meats would be an obvious pairing
• If it’s light but medium-dry like a White Zinfandel or a Rosé d’Anjou it will lend itself well to lightly spiced dishes such as Chinese or South-East Asian food as well as fruity salads such as chicken with peaches or duck with fresh berries.

To take one specific example, tuna: If I were drinking a Provenal rosé I’d go for a classic salade Niçoise or raw or barely seared tuna. If I were drinking a more robust southern French rosé I’d be more inclined to serve it seared on a ridged grill pan with a salsa. I’d probably reach for a Chilean rosé if I’d put some kind of spicy rub on the tuna and cooked it on a barbecue and I’d go for an off-dry rosé if I'd given it a Thai-style marinade or glaze.

Or, thinking about another recipe, ratatouille: If I’d cooked it the traditional way for a long time with plenty of olive oil I’d go for a strong dry rosé from the Languedoc or Costières de Nîmes but if it had more contemporary spin and was based on some very lightly cooked Mediterranean vegetables, cooked for a shorter time in a light tomato sauce I’d reach for a light Provençal rosé.

What this trip to Provence has taught me is that if you’re serving one of these lighter, drier styles you don’t want to overwhelm them with powerful seasoning or heavy saucing. Which means that not all Provenal dishes will necessarily work! More on this next week.