Tasted beside two stylistic extremes: the rambunctious 2019 and the sleeper 2018, this 2017 Chardonnay is the balancing act between the two. While less immediately exciting in terms of stars and lights, this forsakes the pinwheels of flavor of the other two for a patient, steady, powerful outlay across the palate. It never stops. It is restrained, classy, elegant and layered, but those descriptors undersell it—they don't do the wine justice. There's struck match and preserved lemon rind on the nose, and the palate is thick with salted stone fruit, crushed rocks, campfire embers, green tea and star anise. I'm relatively speechless after tasting three vintages of this wine side by side and can only say respectfully, that we are in the presence of greatness. Hush. It's New World Chardonnay at its absolute peak. The Giaconda Chardonnay is as revered within Australia as it is without. The style feels to me to be 50% by hand and 50% by vine (the only winery in Australia to beguile me so with this construction), although when you consider the philosophies within the winery, this can hardly be right. Wild yeasts for fermentation and malolactic fermentation, maturation in French oak, minimal sulfur addition and bottled unfiltered. The winery and cellar are set up for gravity flow. The fruit is grown in "gravel, clay soil in the foothill of the Victorian Alps," handpicked, crushed, then basket pressed (a process less commonly undertaken in Australia, although common in Burgundy) prior to being transferred to oak (30% new) for maturation. The wine is distinct and of the vineyard. I always get a bush-smoke/camphor/eucalypt/struck-match character to these wines—more or less pronounced depending on the vintage—and when tasted blind in an Australian tasting, these characteristics ALWAYS point to Giaconda. When tasted in an international context, I am usually taken to Grand Cru Puligny, which leaves me chuckling afterwards. These wines are not easy to procure, but they are cheap by international standard. A national treasure to be sure. Published: Dec 01, 2022 Drink 2022 - 2042.
Source: Robert Parker.