- Margaret River, WA - $25.90
- Screwcap
- 14.5%alc
Fire Gully is the second label of Pierro, one of Australia's most distinguished makers of chardonnay. The Fire Gully Chardonnay is made in a contrasting style to Pierro's icon, with most of the wine fermented in stainless steel and only a small amount seeing oak.
Fire Gully's 2008 Chardonnay jumps out of the glass with a truly forthright, assertively fruited fragrance which hits more than a few sweet notes along the way. It possesses an abundance of ripe, peachy and pungent aromatics, reminiscent of ripe melons, pineapple juice and corn with a hint of warmth etched throughout. Up front and brassy, with a length of flavour that initially holds itself back from true extension (but penetrates deeper with time), its relatively rich, smoothly textured textured palate does show plenty of peach fuzz and corn flavour, but its lack of authoritative elegance indicates to me that this style of chardonnay may be better suited to rather more restrained alcohol/ripeness levels. Or maybe it's just me...
O Quite a boldly flavoured, ripe example of a lightly oaked Margaret River chardonnay, which doesn't really possess the refinement of Australia's best 'modern' styles. Drink to 2013.
88 points
Yes, I concur CP. Unfortunately it's a disappointing wine, especially for the price. It's certainly a valid style of Chardonnay but there are better examples of that style to be found at similar price points.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of good Chardonnay out there. Makes for a very competitive market place...
cheers
j