Chardonnay KC1, Whitewolfe 2022

The scent of rain on moss and rocks, a storm in the air. Maybe being 10 miles from the sea gives this wine its saline flinch and tight, white, marble clench. Perhaps it is the soil. Or the yeast. Who knows, but the one thing that is for certain is that this wine arrives with unnervingly rapier focus that feels as if it might slice you in two to the back of your spine. And then, as if it hits a prism, it refracts in the mouth and the acidity scatters like light, finding every tiny space, filling the mouth with a nacreous glow of white-yellow-green-gold fruit. There is absolutely no hurry to drink this fine-boned Chardonnay – you could tuck it away for at least five years and quite possibly five more (the ++ in the score means that I think this wine will only get better with age). If you do open it now, decant if you can, use large glasses, serve at grand cru burgundy temperature. Drink 2026-2033.

This wine has a perfume and flavour that set my palate alight. I have never tasted a Chardonnay quite like this, as it is so loaded with crushed seashells and nerve-tingling freshness it rearranges your central nervous system while romancing your taste buds in a spellbinding fashion. Firm, statuesque, and with stellar length, the fruit is so commanding that oak nuance is nowhere to be seen. This apparent barrel invisibility is so clever because it allows the fruit the chance to revel in the spotlight, showing every inch of its undoubted quality.If this is what they can do with their very first vintage, I can see I will have to dig deep in my score pouch in search of a perfect number before too long!