Tuesday, September 8, 2009

LEEUWIN ESTATE ART SERIES CHARDONNAY 2006

- Margaret River, WA
- $80-$110
- Screwcap
- 14.5%alc

Here's Australia's most iconic white wine, which I previously reviewed in February this year. But after having a seafood lunch at Leeuwin Estate's beautiful restaurant what was I supposed to drink? The Sparkling Brut? Surely not! Quite simply the 2006 Art Series Chardonnay is brilliant. Some critics have called it the best Art Series ever.

Clear-yellow in the glass, Leeuwin Estate's 2006 Art Series unfolds to an elegant yet generously ripened nose, displaying layers of quince, grapefruit and nectarine aromas with a restrained influence of butter/vanilla oak, cashew nuts and a trace of mineral. Incredibly textured in a full, smooth, creamy and well-weighted style, its ripe fruit flavours of banana, passionfruit and white stonefruits merge seamlessly with an extract of fresh cedar/vanilla oak into a delightfully persistent, very long finish framed by vibrant, polished, fluffy acids and lingering fruit. There's a faint candied aspect to its fruit core emanating from its higher alcohol and opulent ripeness, but it contains more than enough texture, depth, balance and length to handle it.

ü+ Cut from a different mould than many refined, elegant and tight modern Australian chardonnays; the hedonistic 2006 Art Series is another exemplary drop, with a near perfect interplay of deeply flavoured fruit and immaculate oak. It further underlines its status as Australia's most consistently outstanding wine (red or white). Drink to 2018.
95 points


3 comments:

  1. Bang on. What an incredible Australian wine!

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  2. Chris,

    Though our tasting notes are different in terms of adjectives, I can see we had the same wine. Showy and dressed to turned heads. . . I will have to open another bottle and also some of the older ones I have stashed away, though I can feel myself drifting away from this style of wine.

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  3. Hey Edward,

    Had a glass of this last tuesday (19 Jan) at a degustation and was a lot less impressed than my first two encounters. There seemed to be an awful lot of ripe, sweet fruit coming forth and it truly was a bit 'loose'.

    Maybe all the hype's got to me?

    Still, it made the 08 Stonier which sat next to it look particularly average.

    Cheers,
    Chris P

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