South Australia 13.0% Screwcap $22
I wouldn’t be that interested in writing this wine up at full price but the fact that you can pull it off the big supermarket chains’ shelves for under $13 changes things somewhat…
It smells of pears, lemon drops, green apples and buttered popcorn. Fairly restrained toasty oak. A tidy nose for the price. The palate lacks the necessary delineation to raise it to a higher level and good acidity is somewhat masked by a blurring of flavours and textures but it does pick up on the finish with accentuated minerality, nuttiness and gentle lingering spice.
The front label has the words “Cool Climate” and “Adelaide” stamped clearly on it. Not a wine to get all philosophical over but if you can get it cheap it’s certainly handy to have within reach…and let’s face it; there’s not a lot of decent Chardonnay with which it has to compete at its marked down price.
Winery website-www.penfolds.com.au/
And here come the 2010s! I was a bit surprised to see Kooyong's Massale and DeBortoli's Gulf Station in the pinot noir section of my local this weekend, and now I'll have to keep an eye out for the Hyland Chardy as well – I've liked its form lately and you're right – it's hard to top at $13.
It just seems like yesterday the 2009 was released though….
Cheers,
Chris P
Yep, the 2010s caught me off guard. It's all making me feel a little old
Keen to look at the 2010 De Borts Pinot. Had the '10 Wickhams Road Mornington Peninsula PN over Xmas. Fantastic value for $16…
I had some of the '09 over Christmas (it was an emergency wine of sorts). Pretty serviceable stuff and sounds rather like your 2010. Read of somebody calling this a "baby Yattarna". That might be stretching things if Bin 389 is a "baby Grange" (perhaps Bin 28 is).
MichaelC
Yes, I think it's pretty similar to the 09, maybe a little better…but (perfectly)serviceable is what we are talking about here. Handy for $13…not so much baby Yattarna for mine