DOWIE DOOLE TINTOOKIE CHENIN BLANC 2008

- McLaren Vale, SA

- $30

- Cork (Diam)

- 11.5%alc

$30 might seem a bit daunting for Australian chenin blanc but Dowie Doole's Tintookie is an Australian chenin of rare pedigree. Sourced from a single Blewitt Springs vineyard that's over 70 years old, the 2008 underwent oak fermentation, lees stirring and 3 months maturation in secondhand French oak, adding highly desired texture and complexity to a wine style that's all too often simple and one-dimensional in this country.

The 2008 Tintookie is brightly scented and nutty on the nose, with a clean, youthful fragrance of grapefruit, white flowers and hazelnuts sitting harmoniously alongside a note of creamy vanilla/butter oak. Lusciously creamy and opulent on entry, its deeply flavoured, mineral infused chenin palate presents a lively core of grapefruit, honeydew melon and citrus fruits overlying a complex undercarriage of leesy, sour cream-like flavour. A proudly assertive influence of vivid, gripping grapefuit-like acids coats the wine, carrying it with magnificent thrust towards a vibrantly long, penetrative finish of exceptional length, focus and brightness.

ü+ I'm certainly not the first to say this but Dowie Doole's 2008 Tintookie is the best Australian chenin blanc I've had. It makes me wonder why there aren't more around like it. Great vitality, length and structure. Drink to 2015.

94 points

www.dowiedoole.com