Singed bush, eucalypt, campfire remains and black tea rise out of the glass of this 2019 Chardonnay. Beneath it all, there's struck match, salty reduction and layers of preserved lemon, brine and a hint of camphor. In the mouth, the wine forges a path across the palate, stopping for no man (or woman), and cascades off the back of the palate into a long abyss of endless flavor. It spools and spirals, and if it had a sound, it would fade slowly until it was hard to discern between sensation and memory. This is an utter pleasure to drink, to consider and to smell. With an inexhaustible length of flavor, it is immune to hyperbole. Drink it whenever you like to drink Chardonnay—for me, that's from 2023 onward. 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 2023 - 2039.
Source: Robert Parker.