Chardonnay Estate Vineyard, Giaconda 2022

The compact and intense Giaconda 2022 Chardonnay Estate Vineyard jumps out of the glass incredibly intense, focused and energetic. It envelops the senses with aromas of nectarine and musky peach skin, and a decadent yet balanced influence of French oak with a strong edge of flint. A fabulous, almost chewy texture combines with a bolt of mouth-watering acidity sitting underneath, before tightening up to an exceptionally lengthy finish. This is a step up on the fabulous 2021.

The 2022 Estate Vineyard Chardonnay follows hot on the heels of the perfect 2021 release, and in doing so, it has big boots to fill. Aromatically, the wine leads, as all Giaconda Chardonnay's do, with white flowers and notions of campfire and charred gum leaves, cracked white peppercorns and white peach, salt and caper brine. Crushed and salted nuts, enoki mushroom, shaved fennel, torched pink grapefruit ... the cavalcade of flavors march on across the palate. In this season, the wine is altogether more quietly nuanced and placid than the sleek, powerfully focused 2021 vintage. However, in so saying, this wine is balanced and fine, somewhat less overtly reductive (although still imbued with that salivating characteristic), populated by softer-spoken fruit and yet no less sapid or palate staining. It is in the mouth that the pedigree of the wine comes to the fore. The chalky texture and the penetrating intensity of flavor in combination are what make this wine so great, as I see it, and the 2022 vintage provides a gentle framework within which the wine exists. This is a gorgeous, elegant, precise and detailed release of this magnificent wine. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.