Adelaide Hills 14.0% Screwcap $35 Source- Retail
There’s (dumb) fruit somewhere here. Underneath all the dry, woody oak and butter-ball malo…
Muted grilled yellow peach and nectarine at a guess. And if you smell and taste really hard you’ll even find some grapefruit…but it’s an effort, let me tell you. The raw oak is the dominant flavour left in your mouth at the end, preceded by tinned pineapple in syrup. I think the oak is trying to be cashews but it’s just not getting there.
Now let’s get this straight. I like the odd big Chardonnay and I don’t mind a bit of oak either. But if the vintage was hot & dry and the fruit suffered then you might have a good think about dialing it back a bit. There’s even some alcohol warmth in this baby. To quote Jeff Tweedy of Wilco; “It’s not good. It’s not anything!”
Completely lacking definition and with an unbalanced flavour profile. Something’s gone wrong here as far as I’m concerned.
ps- The bottle image is of a slightly different wine, but I really do want to warn you away from this one, which basically looks the same. Ask if they have an 06 in stock.
Winery Website- http://www.petaluma.com.au/
Sorry JP but I've got an awful lot to agree with you here. Based on the previous 3 vintages Petaluma's Chardy had effectively worked its way into my favourite Aussie wines list, but then this hit! Who knows what happened? I probably didn't 'dislike' this quite as much as you but it is certainly difficult to recommend a chardonnay of that quality at that price (personally I thought the 'good' cork sealed 04's were smashing!)
On a brighter note I just downed a bottle of the similarly priced Voyager Estate Chards from the same vintage – ah, harmony!
Keep it up JP!
Chris P
Thanks CP. The 07 Voyager smashes this, and at a similar price point.
Okay then, avoid.
Message received.
MichaelC
Well, 90 points from JH (who has rated this wine highly in past vintages) but I had a look around after I posted my note & couldn't find any real disagreement apart from that.
I'd avoid it myself Michael
Go the 08 Mountadam if you want something big, with malo and oak.
Cheers
jeremy