Campbell Mattinson 95 points!
Tyson Stelzer 95 points!
Gold - Decanter World Wine Awards!
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Campbell Mattinson 95 points!'A few years ago I asked Steve Webber of De Bortoli Yarra Valley whether anyone in the valley was trying to make a Chablis-style chardonnay. Never one to miss a chance, he promptly quipped, Yeah, we are, I'll show it to you at lunch. I wrote of this in the
Why the French Hate Us book:
The wine he's talking about, it turns out, is a new chardonnay made from a single small vineyard. It tastes as if it's been sown together with gossip, all its juicy details glistening in the glass. Webber serves it besides a leading international wine in its class ' a Raveneau Premier Cru Chablis from the 2002 vintage. The Raveneau seams sown together with sweat and hay, milk and honey. I prefer the Raveneau. So does Webber ' but it's making his mind roil with ideas. One of those ideas has to with oak, and how much of it a wine should be exposed to. De Bortoli has taken a step forward each year since then, but this 2007 De Bortoli Reserve Chardonnay is where you see the Raveneau influence at its most overt. As with the Estate chardonnay, this wine did not see any new oak - it was matured in four and five year old oak, in which it went through full malolactic fermentation. The wine has a beautiful creamy, wheaty, chalkiness, set within a reserved, tight context. It has elegance and length. Waxy, creamy, lemony, lengthy. Noticeable lack of alcohol through the finish. This is the best De Bortoli chardonnay I have tasted.'
Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
Tyson Stelzer 95 points!'It is as if the texture ramps up successively with every one of De Bortoli's four Chardonnays, and it is here that it reaches its final crescendo. This is wine that is more about structure than overt fruit. It's immaculately mineral and beautifully textured.'
WBM 100, September 2009
Country:
Australia
Region:
VIC- Yarra Valley
Variety:
Wine White - Chardonnay
Size:
750mL
